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arXiv · 1209.2106

Evidence of sympathetic cooling of Na+ ions by a Na MOT in a hybrid trap

I. Sivarajah·D. S. Goodman·J. E. Wells·F. A. Narducci·W. W. Smith
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Abstract

A hybrid ion-neutral trap provides an ideal system to study collisional dynamics between ions and neutrals. This system provides a general cooling method that can be applied to optically inaccessible species and can also potentially cool internal degrees of freedom. The long range polarization potentials ($V\propto-\alpha/r^4$) between ions and neutrals result in large scattering cross sections at cold temperatures, making the hybrid trap a favorable system for efficient sympathetic cooling of ions by collisions with neutral atoms. We present experimental evidence of sympathetic cooling in a hybrid trap of \ce{Na+} ions, which are closed shell and therefore do not have a laser induced atomic transition, by equal mass cold Na atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT).

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I. Sivarajah, D. S. Goodman, J. E. Wells, F. A. Narducci, W. W. Smith. 2012-09-10. Evidence of sympathetic cooling of Na+ ions by a Na MOT in a hybrid trap. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.86.063419

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