QUANTUM SUPPRESSION OF COLLISIONAL LOSS RATES IN OPTICAL TRAPS

We present a coupled-channel study of optical collisions, restricted t o a single atom-laser manifold. Outside of a resonance region around t he Condon point, we find a simple representation of the solution in te rms of propagating complex dressed states. The probability flux for th e P-2(3/2) + S state at small interatomic distances can be interpreted in terms of two such interfering dressed states. The coupled-channel solution displays some features that have previously been obtained wit h semiclassical optical-Bloch-equation methods. An important quantum e ffect, however, is a strong reduction of atom loss rates at low collis ion energies that is roughly proportional to E-2.