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Study of background gas collisions in atomic traps

University of British Columbia

This thesis describes an investigation and application of the loss of laser cooled atoms from a trap induced by background collisions. The loss rate constant depends on the density of background gas and the velocity averaged collisional loss cross section due to collisions. The velocity averaged collisional loss cross section can be calculated and its dependence on trap depth was verified using a magneto-optical trap. This verification involved measurements of the loss rate constant for a quadrupole magnetic and a magneto-optical trap and measurement of the density of Ar background gas using a residual gas analyzer. The second part of the thesis focuses on an application of these measurements of the loss rate constant to measure the pressure of the background gas. The experimental progress to date on the atom pressure sensor is provided.

Text

2014-07-03

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/47101

Physics

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/