Measurements of total absolute collision cross section of ultracold Rb atom using magneto-optic and pure magnetic traps

The implementation of a technique to measure total collision cross sections using laser-cooled rubidium atoms along with the introduction of room-temperature background gases, confined in both magnetooptic and magnetic traps, is proposed. Atom loss from the trap and total collision cross section can be inferred from the knowledge of the density of background gases. The measured cross sections from the magneto-optic and magnetic traps are represented, compared, and found to be significantly different. The measurements using this technique have a very small error in the range of approximately 2%-7%.