Inelastic Collision Rates of Trapped Metastable Hydrogen
Abstract
We report the first detailed decay studies of trapped metastable (2S) hydrogen. By two-photon excitation of ultracold H samples, we have produced clouds of at least 5x107 magnetically trapped 2S atoms at densities greater than 4x1010 cm-3 and temperatures below 100 μK. We derive experimental values for the total 2S-2S two-body loss rate constant in this temperature regime. Our results are in the range of recent theoretical calculations. We also find experimental upper limits on the rate constant for loss due to inelastic 1S-2S collisions.
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