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Ultracold Rb-OH collisions and prospects for sympathetic cooling

M. Lara·J. L. Bohn·D. Potter·P. Soldan·J. Hutson
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Abstract

We have computed ab inito cross sections for cold collisions of Rb atoms with OH radicals. We predict collision rate constants of order 10^{-11} cm^3/s at temperatures in the range 10-100 mK at which molecules have already been produced experimentally. However, we also find that in these collisions the molecules have a strong propensity for changing their internal state, which could make sympathetic cooling of OH in a Rb buffer gas problematic in magnetostatic or electrostatic traps.

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M. Lara, J. L. Bohn, D. Potter, P. Soldan, J. Hutson. 2006-07-10. Ultracold Rb-OH collisions and prospects for sympathetic cooling. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.97.183201

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