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The newest optics laboratory in the physics department employs modern laser cooling and trapping, along with ion-atom collisions techniques to study the interactions taking place between cold atoms.

Held at the intersection of six laser beams and in a magnetic field gradient, the neutral atoms can be cooled to temperatures in the micro-Kelvin region. This configuration is known as Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT). Since the thermal motion of the trapped atoms is greatly reduced, they make an excellent candidate as a target in collision with single-charged projectile ions. By measuring the momentum transferred to the ionized target during the charge transfer process, information about the collision process could be obtained. Since any external perturbation experienced by the cold atoms will be "seen" by the ion beam, the ion beam also acts as a non-intrusive probe, giving information about the internal state of the target.

In our laboratory, two different atomic species, Rubidium and Cesium, will be trapped simultaneously in the same region in the vacuum chamber, held at extremely low pressure. A singly charged Sodium ion beam will be used as the projectile. The Rb or Cs recoil ions formed by charge transfer will be extracted and projected onto a position sensitive detector. The neutral Na projectile will be projected onto a second position sensitive detector. By measuring the time difference between the neutral projectile and the recoil ion, information about the internal state of the target could be obtained. In our experiment, the ion beam will be used to probe the interactions taken place in ultracold mixtures and make quantitative measurements of the trap-loss of one species in the presence of the other one.

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