Ionization rates in a Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable Helium

Olivier Sirjean (1) , Signe Seidelin (1) , José Carlos Viana Gomes (1) , Denis Boiron (1) , Christoph I Westbrook (1) , Alain Aspect (1) , G. V. Shlyapnikov (2)

1 laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique atomique
2 AMOLF - FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics

We have studied ionizing collisions in a BEC of He*. Measurements of the ion production rate combined with measurements of the density and number of atoms for the same sample allow us to estimate both the 2 and 3-body contributions to this rate. A comparison with the decay of the number of condensed atoms in our magnetic trap, in the presence of an rf-shield, indicates that ionizing collisions are largely or wholly responsible for the loss. Quantum depletion makes a substantial correction to the 3-body rate constant.

Domaines: Mécanique statistique [cond-mat.stat-mech]; Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Olivier Sirjean, Signe Seidelin, José Carlos Viana Gomes, Denis Boiron, Christoph I Westbrook, et al.. Ionization rates in a Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable Helium. Physical Review Letters, 2002, 89, pp.220406. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.220406⟩. ⟨hal-00118659⟩