Abstract

It has long been anticipated that the rate of collisions in an optical lattice should differ from that in a disordered sample at the same density. At the same time, it has not been clear whether the collision rate would be enhanced or suppressed by the spatial ordering. On the one hand, the fact that atoms are trapped at discrete sites corresponding to minima of the optical potential suggests that collisions should be suppressed. On the other hand, the effect of the periodic potential on unbound atoms or atoms "hopping" from site to site should be to guide them toward the sites where other atoms maybe bound, thus enhancing the collision ate relative to that that would he present in the absence of the optical potential.

© 1997 Optical Society of America