This thesis reports the investigation of the scattering properties of a mixture of Rb and Cs and the formation of ultracold Feshbach molecules. The production of Feshbach molecules is a crucial step towards the production of ultracold polar molecules, which is of significant interest for a wide range of potential applications. We have investigated the scattering properties of a mixture of
85Rb and
133Cs in their lowest spin channel in a magnetic field range from 0 to 700\,G. Furthermore, we explored the Feshbach spectrum of
85Rb alone in both, the
(f=2,mf=−2) and
(2,+2) states up to a magnetic field of 1000\,G. Additionally a Feshbach resonance in a
(2,+2)+(3,+3) spin mixture was experimentally confirmed. We associated Cs
2 Feshbach molecules using a Feshbach resonance at 19.9\,G. \mbox{
2.1(1)×104} molecules with a temperature of
∼60\,nK were produced from a sample of
3.28(2)×105 Cs atoms with a PSD of 0.20(1). Due to a magnetic field gradient, the molecules `bounce' at an avoided crossing between two states at 13.5\,G. This gradient field was also used to produce multiple molecular clouds from one atomic sample. A combination of both techniques led to a `collision' between two Cs
2 clouds. Furthermore, we associated up to
∼5000 heteronuclear
87RbCs Feshbach molecules using an interspecies resonance at 197.1\,G. Confined in the dipole trap the molecules have a lifetime of 0.21(1)\,s. We have measured the magnetic moment of the molecules in different internal states in a magnetic field range from 181 to 185\,G. Molecular loss spectroscopy on electronically excited states was performed to identify candidates for the intermediate state of a STIRAP transfer of the molecules into their rovibrational ground state. Subsequently, the binding energy of the rovibrational ground state was measured to be 3811.574(1)\,cm
−1, using two-photon spectroscopy.
This thesis reports the observation of interspecies Feshbach resonances in an ultracold mixture of Rb and Cs atoms. A versatile combined magnetic and optical potential has been designed and constructed which is capable of bringing both
87Rb and
133Cs to degeneracy, and reaching high phase-space density in
85Rb. High phase-space density mixtures are the first step required in the production of ultracold polar molecules, the topic of much current research. The apparatus capitalises on the efficient capture of atoms by a magnetic trap from a magneto-optical trap, and the efficient sympathetic cooling of Cs by Rb therein. Upon transfer to the crossed optical dipole trap condensates in excess of
1×106 87Rb atoms and approximately
1×105 133Cs atoms are produced after direct evaporation and gravito-magnetic tilting of the potential. The observation of six interspecies
87Rb-
133Cs Feshbach resonances are reported, three of which had only been predicted theoretically, allowing testing and development of the theoretical model. Furthermore, the extrapolation of this model has predicted numerous Feshbach resonances between
85Rb and
133Cs, none of which have been experimentally observed prior to this work. The versatile nature of this apparatus is discussed, including the application of the current system to cooling of
85Rb. Initial experiments observed seven interspecies resonances, including a broad s-wave resonance at a magnetic field of
(644±2) G which is in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction. Further work has revealed that fourteen Feshbach resonances exist in the 0-700 G magnetic field range between
85Rb and
133Cs atoms in the
∣2,+2⟩ and
∣3,+3⟩ states, respectively. Several of these resonances would be ideal for magneto-association of RbCs molecules, prior to transfer to the rovibrational ground-state.
We report the creation of ultracold bosonic 23 Na 87 Rb Feshbach molecules via magneto-association. By ramping the magnetic field across an interspecies Feshbach resonance (FR), at least 4000 molecules can be produced out of the near degenerate ultracold mixture. Fast loss due to inelastic atom–molecule collisions is observed, which limits the pure molecule number, after residual atoms removal, to 1700. The pure molecule sample can live for 21.8(8) ms in the optical trap, long enough for future molecular spectroscopy studies toward coherently transferring to the singlet ro-vibrational ground state, where these molecules are stable against chemical reaction and have a permanent electric dipole moment of 3.3 Debye. We have also measured the Feshbach molecule's binding energy near the FR by the oscillating magnetic field method and found these molecules have a large closed-channel fraction.
We investigate quantum-mechanical interactions between ultracold rubidium and cesium in an optical trap at temperatures of a few microkelvin. Our results provide, on the one hand, an experimental key to understand the collisional properties and, on the other hand, a tool to control the interspecies interactions. By performing loss measurements we locate several Feshbach resonances, which provide insight into the energy structure of weakly bound RbCs molecules near the dissociation threshold and allow for the production of such heteronuclear Feshbach molecules. In the future we will transfer these loosely-bound molecules into the absolute internal ground state. The availability of ultracold heteronuclear ground state molecules will open the door to investigate phenomena associated with ultracold polar quantum gases. In our new experimental set-up we are able to trap and cool rubidium and cesium atoms in their lowest internal states. First we load both species into a two-color magneto-optical trap, having full control over the single-species atom number. We extend the technique of degenerate Raman-sideband cooling to a two-color version, which is able to simultaneously cool and polarize both rubidium and cesium. Thereafter we load the atoms into a levitated crossed optical dipole trap. Because of the presence of the gradient magnetic field the trap is highly state selective and consequently provides perfect spin-polarization of the sample. Furthermore, a coincidence of the magnetic-moment-to-mass ratios of the two species allows for simultaneous levitation of both, which assures an almost perfect spatial overlap between the species. We perform Feshbach spectroscopy in two different spin channels of the mixture within a magnetic field ranging from 20 to 300G. In the lowest spin combination of the species we locate 23 interspecies Feshbach resonances, while in a higher spin mixture we find 2 resonances. The high number of resonances found within this range of magnetic field is unusual for alkali mixtures. The presence of many resonances points to scattering properties of the mixture, which include higher-order coupling mechanisms. The obtained data on the Feshbach spectroscopy provide, on one hand, fundamental experimental input to characterize the Rb-Cs scattering properties and, on the other hand, identification of possible starting points for the association of ultracold heteronuclear RbCs molecules. In addition we show preliminary results on spectroscopy of the binding energy of RbCs dimers, based on a modulation of the magnetic field. The recently obtained Bose-Einstein condensate of Cs atoms, which represents a benchmark for the performance of the present apparatus, will be discussed as well as the potential pathways towards a double-degenerate mixture. We follow two main goals, first the production of a double Bose-Einstein condensate and, second, the transfer of shallow bound Feshbach molecules to the absolute internal ground state. The production of heteronuclear ground state molecules allows to enter the world of ultracold polar quantum systems.
Within the scope of this thesis, the production of ultracold molecules at a temperature of a few µK with various isotopes of rubidium (Rb) and ytterbium (Yb) was examined by means of photoassociation spectroscopy and magnetic Feshbach resonances in combined conservative traps. The long-term goal of this experiment is the production of ultracold RbYb molecules in the rovibronic ground state.
It was possible to produce electronically excited ^{87}Rb ^{176}Yb molecules in a novel hybrid trap (HT) at a combined temperature of 1.7 µK by means of 1-photon photoassociation close to the Rb D1 line at 795 nm. This HT takes advantage of the different magnetic properties of Rb and Yb and allows for independent trapping and manipulation of the atomic species. It combines an Ioffe-Pritchard type magnetic trap for Rb and a near-resonant optical dipole trap for Yb. The excited molecular ^2 Pi_1/2 state could be characterized further extending previous works in a combined MOT and vibrational levels reaching binding energies up to E_b=-h x 2.2 THz could be assigned by trap-loss spectroscopy.
Almost every detected vibrational state consists of two resonances that could be assigned to the molecular analogue of the hyperfine structure of ^{87}Rb. An important experimental observation is a decrease in hyperfine splitting with increasing binding energy of a vibrational level. For the deepest found vibrational state the hyperfine splitting amounts only 70 % of the atomic value (817 MHz) which emphasizes a gradual passage from weakly to tightly bound molecules.
Furthermore, detailed attempts were undertaken to induce magnetic Feshbach resonances in ^{85}Rb and different Yb isotopes, especially ^{171}Yb in a crossed optical dipole trap at 1064 nm at temperatures of 10 µK. For this purpose, a homogeneous magnetic field was applied and scanned in small steps over the range of 495 G... 640 G. Unfortunately, our efforts were without success. Additionally, well known as well as not yet reported Rb_2 Feshbach resonances in ^{85}Rb and ^{87}Rb were detected. These resonances allowed for a detailed analysis of the typical behaviour of Feshbach resonances.
The first experimental realization of photoassociation spectroscopy in a conservative is also a major step towards the ultimate project goal of producing ultracold RbYb molecules in the electronic ground state. A spatial confinement, which is in principle possible in the HT, is a prerequisite for transferring the molecules to the rovibronic ground state, e.g. with the help of a STIRAP process.
We have studied interspecies scattering in an ultracold mixture of
87Rb and
133Cs atoms, both in their lowest-energy spin states. The three-body loss signatures of 30 incoming
s- and
p-wave magnetic Feshbach resonances over the range 0 to 667 G have been cataloged. Magnetic field modulation spectroscopy was used to observe molecular states bound by up to 2.5 $\text{MHz}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}h$. We have created RbCs Feshbach molecules using two of the resonances. Magnetic moment spectroscopy along the magnetoassociation pathway from 197 to 182 G gives results consistent with the observed and calculated dependence of the binding energy on magnetic field strength. We have set up a coupled-channel model of the interaction and have used direct least-squares fitting to refine its parameters to fit the experimental results from the Feshbach molecules, in addition to the Feshbach resonance positions and the spectroscopic results for deeply bound levels. The final model gives a good description of all the experimental results and predicts a large resonance near 790 G, which may be useful for tuning the interspecies scattering properties. Quantum numbers and vibrational wave functions from the model can also be used to choose optimal initial states of Feshbach molecules for their transfer to the rovibronic ground state using stimulated Raman adiabatic passage.