| Cold collisions of atomic chromium in a magnetic trap are studied. A cryogenic buffer gas is employed to load 1012 chromium atoms into a magnetic trap at an initial temperature of ∼1 K. The trap depth is then lowered to cool the atoms to temper atures as low as 2 mK. After cooling, the steady state temperature and the number of remaining atoms are measured and the chromium collisional properties extracted. Elastic and inelastic scattering rates for 52Cr- 52Cr are measured at temperatures ranging from 2 mK to 1 K. The inelastic scattering rate coefficient shows a dramatic variation with temperature. At 1 K it is roughly 10−13cm3s −1. However, at temperatures just above the ultra-cold limit, the scattering rate sharply increases to values as high as 2 × 10 −9cm3s −1. |
