Abstract

We juggle atoms in an atomic fountain by launching two balls of laser-cooled Cs atoms in rapid succession. The two balls collide near the top of the fountain trajectory, and we detect the velocity of the scattered atoms, giving information on the differential scattering cross section. We scan the collision energy by varying the time delay between the two launches. A time delay of 7 ms corresponds to a collision energy of 19 μK, and we have observed scattering at energies as high as 100 μK (Δt =16 ms).

© 1998 Optical Society of America