Abstract

Atomic velocities in atom traps are so slow that radiative lifetimes are often shorter than the duration of a collision. In current traps this effect is greatly enhanced by the very long range resonant interaction between identical atoms. Thus collisional motion on a particular molecular potential is often interrupted by radiative transfer between molecular states of A–A, A*–A, or A*–A* parentage.

© 1990 Optical Society of America