Measurement of the Rb(5D5/2) photoionization cross section using trapped atoms


B.C.Duncan, V. Sanchez-Villicana, and P.L.Gould
Department of Physics, U-46, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3046 USA
H.R.Sadeghpour,
ITAMP, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138
Physical Review A , 63, 043411


Abstract

We report on measurements of the cross section for photoionization of Rb atoms in the highly-excited 5D5/2 level at wavelengths ranging from 1064 nm to 532 nm (photoelectron energies of 0.175 eV to 1.34 eV). We efficiently populate the 5D5/2 level using coherent two-photon excitation of trapped atoms with pulses in the counterintuitive order. The absolute photoionization cross sections are then measured via the increased loss of atoms from the magneto-optical trap when it is illuminated by the photoionizing light. Our results are in excellent agreement with new calculations based on the valence-electron parametric potential method.