Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 15: Poster I

A 15.31: Poster

Tuesday, March 3, 2009, 16:30–19:00, VMP 9 Poster

Design and setup of a trap for ultracold lithium atoms as a scattering target for cold atom-molecule collision studies — •Tim Eichhorn, Matthias Strebel, Marcel Mudrich, and Frank Stienkemeier — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany

In order to experimentally investigate reactive and non-reactive collisions we plan to combine a magneto-optical trap and a magnetic trap with a setup for producing slow beams of cold molecules by means of supersonic expansion from a rotating nozzle. Studying scattering processes, e.g. Li + HF -> LiF + H, with collision energies down to 1 meV we expect to get insight into the quantum mechanical nature of cold reaction dynamics.

For trapping lithium atoms at very low temperatures we present calculations and design features for a compact setup consisting of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and a magnetic trap. The MOT will be loaded from a decreasing field type Zeeman-slower and operated with a high-power diode laser system, which is based on a master-slave scheme.