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arXiv · 0806.1196

Creating ultracold molecules by collisions with ultracold rare gas atoms in an optical trap

P. Barletta·J. Tennyson·P. F. Barker
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Abstract

We study collisions of para-H$_2$ with five rare gas atomic species (He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe) over the range from 1 K to 1 $\mu$ K and evaluate the feasibility of sympathetic cooling H$_2$ with ultracold ground state rare gas atoms co-trapped within a deep optical trap. Collision cross-sections over this large temperature range show that all of these species could be used to cool H$_2$ to ultracold temperatures and that argon and helium are the most promising species for future experiments.

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P. Barletta, J. Tennyson, P. F. Barker. 2008-06-06. Creating ultracold molecules by collisions with ultracold rare gas atoms in an optical trap. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.78.052707

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