Abstract
We have observed thermalization by elastic collisions of magnetically trapped metastable helium atoms. Our method directly samples the reconstruction of a thermal energy distribution after the application of a RF knife. The relaxation time of our sample toward equilibrium gives an elastic collision rate constant of [Formula Presented] at a temperature of 1 mK. This value is close to the unitarity limit.
| Original language | English |
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| Pages (from-to) | 4 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2001 |