Flux enhancement model for cold cesium fine-structure changing collisions

Abstract

The measurements of fine-structure changing collisions in a cesium magneto-optical trap, reported in a previous work [A. Fioretti et al., Phys. Rev. A 55, R3999 (1997)], are reanalyzed within a model based on the flux enhancement effect, which takes place in cold atomic collisions. In the present analysis, we consider the cooperative effect of the long-range and the shorter-range excitation by the strong trap laser. We evidence also the important role of the hyperfine structure of the Cs2 molecular levels asymptotically connected to the ground-state and excited-state dissociation limits.