Charge-exchange collisions between ultracold fermionic lithium atoms and calcium ions

Abstract

Charge exchange collisions between ultracold fermionic 6 Li atoms and 40 Ca + ions are observed in the mK temperature range. The reaction product of the charge exchange collision is identified via mass spectrometry during which the motion of the ions is excited parametrically. The crosssections of the charge exchange collisions between 6 Li atoms in the ground state and 40 Ca + ions in the ground and metastable excited states are determined. Investigation of the inelastic collision characteristics in the atom-ion mixture is an important step toward ultracold chemistry based on ultracold atoms and ions.

Characterization of charge-exchange collisions between ultracold Li6 atoms and Ca40+ ions

“…The inelastic collisions that we observe in our system have been identified as charge-exchange collisions through the mass spectrometry of the reaction-product ions in our previous work [15]. In the current experiment, three to seven Ca + ions are loaded in the ion trap to form a one-dimensional crystal.…”

“…, where γ is the spontaneous decay rate of the D 3/2 and D 5/2 states and t is the mixing time of the atoms and ions [15]. The energy-dependent charge-exchange collision cross section σ CE (E) can be derived from the relation σ CE (E) = Γ CE /nv, where n is the atomic density and v is the mean relative velocity of the colliding atom and ion.…”

Chemistry With Controlled Ions

“…The majority of the studies performed so far focused on studying sympathetic cooling of the ions by the atoms [133,134,131,127,137] and chemical processes between the cold ions and the atoms [128,119,138,126,139,140,141]. See Refs.…”

Measurement of charge exchange between Na and Ca+ in a hybrid trap

“…Hybrid traps have been used to measure charge exchange in many heteronuclear atomic systems, including Rb+Yb + [24], Rb+Ba + [9], Rb+Sr + [25], Rb+Ca + [26], Rb + K + [27], Rb + Cs + [5], Li + Ca + [28], Li + Yb + [29], Ca+Yb + [30], Ca+Ba + [31], Na+Ca + [32], and Cs+Rb + [27]. Additionally, studies have been done in the molecular system Rb + N + 2 [33], as well as the homonuclear systems Rb + Rb + [9,24], Cs + Cs + [5], Yb + Yb + [34], and Na + Na + [35].…”