Collisional properties of trapped cold chromium atoms
We report on calculations of the elastic cross section and thermalization rate for collision between two maximally spin-polarized chromium atoms in the cold and ultracold regimes, relevant to buffer-gas and magneto-optical cooling. We calculate ab initio potential-energy curves for Cr-2 and the van der Waals coefficient C-6, and construct interaction potentials between two colliding Cr atoms. We e