Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Construction and Characterization of External Cavity Diode Lasers for Atomic Physics
Published on: April 24, 2014
Penning collisions between supersonically expanded metastable He atoms and laser-cooled Li atoms
Jonas Grzesiak1, Takamasa Momose2, Frank Stienkemeier1
1Institute of Physics, University of Freiburg, Hermann-Herder-Str. 3, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
Abstract:
We describe an experimental setup comprised of a discharge source for supersonic beams of metastable He atoms and a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for ultracold Li atoms that makes it possible to study Penning ionization and associative ionization processes at high ion count rates. The cationic reaction products are analyzed using a novel ion detection scheme which allows for mass selection, a high ion extraction efficiency, and a good collision-energy resolution. The influence of elastic He-Li collisions on the steady-state Li atom number in the MOT is described, and the collision data are used to estimate the excitation efficiency of the discharge source. We also show that Penning collisions can be directly used to probe the temperature of the Li cloud without the need for an additional time-resolved absorption or fluorescence detection system.
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Structure
Atomic Mass
Atomic Orbitals
Hybridization of Atomic Orbitals I
The Energies of Atomic Orbitals
The Atomic Theory of Matter

