Ultracold collision properties of metastable alkaline-earth atoms

Ultra-cold collisions of spin-polarized 24Mg,40Ca, and 88Sr in the metastable
3P2 excited state are investigated. We calculate the long-range interaction
potentials and estimate the scattering length and the collisional loss rate as
a function of magnetic field. The estimates are based on molecular potentials
between 3P2 alkaline-earth atoms obtained from ab initio atomic and molecular
structure calculations. The scattering lengths show resonance behavior due to
the appearance of a molecular bound state in a purely long-range interaction
potential and are positive for magnetic fields below 50 mT. A loss-rate model
shows that losses should be smallest near zero magnetic field and for fields
slightly larger than the resonance field, where the scattering length is also
positive.