LASER COLLIMATION OF A CHROMIUM BEAM

Citation
Re. Scholten et al., LASER COLLIMATION OF A CHROMIUM BEAM, Physical review. A, 55(2), 1997, pp. 1331-1338
Citations number
32
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
ISSN journal
10502947
Volume
55
Issue
2
Year of publication
1997
Pages
1331 - 1338
Database
ISI
SICI code
1050-2947(1997)55:2<1331:LCOACB>2.0.ZU;2-6
Abstract
We have studied laser collimation of a chromium atomic beam using a tr ansverse polarization gradient cooling scheme. We present detailed mea surements of the angular distribution of atoms on the beam axis, over a broad range of laser intensities and detunings, including those that produce significant excitation, and observe collimation angles as sma ll as 0.16+/-0.01 mrad (50% quantile). We compare our results with exi sting calculations based on assumptions of steady-state conditions and low excited-state population.