Ionizing Collisional Rate of Metastable Rare-Gas Atoms in an Optical Lattice

Abstract

Ionizing collisional rate of metastable krypton and argon atoms in an optical lattice k{sub la tt ic e} is compared with that in free space k{sub free} . Reduction of the collisional rate is observed for krypton atoms. However, the magnitude of reduction is no more than a factor of 2 at the laser detuning of 7GHz. The ratio k{sub la tt ic e}/k{sub free} is found to change proportional to the square root of the excitation rate of atoms from the 1s{sub 5} metastable state to the 2p{sub 9} state by the lattice laser. The mechanism that prevents a larger reduction is discussed. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}