Optical shielding of cold collisions in blue-detuned near-resonant optical lattices

We report Monte Carlo wave function simulation results for two colliding atoms in a blue-detuned near-resonant $J=1\to J=1$ optical lattice. Our results show that complete optical shielding of collisions can be achieved within the lattice with suitably selected and realistic laser field parameters. More importantly, our results demonstrate that the shielding effect does not interfere with the actual trapping and cooling process, and it is produced by the lattice lasers themselves, without the need to use additional laser beams.