Sympathetic cooling and collisional properties of a Rb-Cs mixture

Anderlini, M. and Courtade, E. and Cristiani, M. and Cossart, D. and Ciampini, D. and Sias, C. and Morsch, O. and Arimondo, E. (2004) Sympathetic cooling and collisional properties of a Rb-Cs mixture. Physical review. A, Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics . ISSN 1094-1622

Abstract

We report on measurements of the collisional properties of a mixture of $^{133}$Cs and $^{87}$Rb atoms in a magnetic trap at $\mu\mathrm{K}$ temperatures. By selectively evaporating the Rb atoms using a radio-frequency field, we achieved sympathetic cooling of Cs down to a few $\mu\mathrm{K}$. The inter-species collisional cross-section was determined through rethermalization measurements, leading to an estimate of $a_s=595 a_0$ for the s-wave scattering length for Rb in the $|F=2, m_F=2>$ and Cs in the $|F=4, m_F=4>$ magnetic states. We briefly speculate on the prospects for reaching Bose-Einstein condensation of Cs inside a magnetic trap through sympathetic cooling.

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