Magnetic trapping of silver and copper, and anomalous spin relaxation in the ag-he system.
We have trapped large numbers of copper (Cu) and silver (Ag) atoms using buffer-gas cooling. Up to 3 x 10{12} Cu atoms and 4 x 10{13} Ag atoms are trapped. Lifetimes are as long as 5 s, limited by collisions with the buffer gas. Ratios of elastic to inelastic collision rates with He are >or=10{6}, suggesting Cu and Ag are favorable for use in ultracold applications. The temperature dependence of the Ag-3He collision rate varies as T;{5.8+/-0.4}. We find that this temperature dependence is inconsistent with the behavior predicted for relaxation arising from the spin-rotation interaction, and conclude that the Ag-3He system displays anomalous collisional behavior in the multiple-partial wave regime. Gold (Au) was ablated into 3He buffer gas, however, atomic Au lifetimes were observed to be too short to permit trapping.
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Nathan
N
Brahms
Bonna
B
Newman
Cort
C
Johnson
Tom
T
Greytak
Daniel
D
Kleppner
John
J
Doyle