Cold collisions between magnetically trapped atoms and electrostatically trapped molecules

The dynamics of co-trapped ultracold atoms and cold molecules are driven by the competition between elastic and inelastic collisions. Elastic collisions allow for momentum transfer and thermal equilibration, whereas inelastic collisions cause trap loss. The relative magnitude of these collision cross sections determines the balance between these effects. These cross sections can be probed by measuring the number and density distribution of both species in the trap. To this end, independent magnetic and electrostatic traps have been used to pursue the determination of the elastic and inelastic cross sections for collisions between Rb atoms and OH molecules in overlapped traps.