Abstract:
We report the observation of polarization anisotropy in the optical suppression of photoassociative ionization (PAI) collisions. Binary collisions occur within a tightly collimated and optically cooled velocity group of a single sodium beam. A laser beam, blue-detuned with respect to the atomic resonance transition, crosses the atomic beam and suppresses the PAI rate. We measure this suppression as a function of intensity and electric field vector aligned parallel or perpendicular to the atomic beam axis. Quantum close-coupling and multichannel curve-crossing calculations of model systems yield insight into the nature of the anisotropy and are in reasonable agreement with the measurements.
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Received: 8 January 1998 / Revised: 6 April 1998 / Accepted: 10 May 1998
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Tsao, CC., Wang, Y., Napolitano, R. et al. Anisotropy of optical suppression in photoassociative ionization collisions within a slow, collimated sodium atom beam. Eur. Phys. J. D 4, 139–144 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050193
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530050193