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arXiv:1804.07319 · Physical Review A

Production of ultracold Cs*Yb molecules by photoassociation

Alexander Guttridge, S. A. Hopkins, Matthew D. Frye, John J. McFerran, Jeremy M. Hutson, Simon L. Cornish

Published Jun 19, 2018• 31 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report the production of ultracold heteronuclear ${\mathrm{Cs}}^{*}\mathrm{Yb}$ molecules through one-photon photoassociation applied to an ultracold atomic mixture of Cs and Yb confined in an optical dipole trap. We use trap-loss spectroscopy to detect molecular states below the $\mathrm{Cs}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}(^{2}P_{1/2})+\mathrm{Yb}(^{1}S_{0})$ asymptote. For $^{133}\mathrm{Cs}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{174}\mathrm{Yb}$, we observe 13 rovibrational states with binding energies up to $\ensuremath{\sim}500\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\mathrm{GHz}$. For each rovibrational state we observe two resonances associated with the Cs hyperfine structure and show that the hyperfine splitting in the diatomic molecule decreases for more deeply bound states. In addition, we produce ultracold fermionic $^{133}\mathrm{Cs}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{173}\mathrm{Yb}$ and bosonic $^{133}\mathrm{Cs}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{172}\mathrm{Yb}$ and $^{133}\mathrm{Cs}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}^{170}\mathrm{Yb}$ molecules. From mass scaling, we determine the number of vibrational levels supported by the 2(1/2) excited-state potential to be 154 or 155.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.97.063414

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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 report on the production of ultracold heteronuclear YbLi* molecules in a dual-species magneto-optical trap by photoassociation (PA). The formation of the electronically excited molecules close to dissociation was observed by trap loss spectroscopy. We find 4 rovibrational states within a range of 250GHz250\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{GHz}250GHz below the Yb(1S0)+Li(2P1/2)\mathrm{Yb}(^{1}S_{0})+\mathrm{Li}(^{2}P_{1/2})Yb(1S0​)+Li(2P1/2​) asymptote and observe isotopic PA line shifts in mixtures of 6Li^{6}\mathrm{Li}6Li with 174Yb^{174}\mathrm{Yb}174Yb, 172Yb^{172}\mathrm{Yb}172Yb, and 176Yb^{176}\mathrm{Yb}176Yb. We also describe our theoretical ab initio calculation for the relevant electronic potentials and utilize it to analyze and identify the lines in the experimentally observed spectrum.
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We investigate the formation of weakly bound, electronically excited, heteronuclear 6 Li 40 K * molecules by single-photon photoassociation in a magneto-optical trap. We performed trap loss spectroscopy within a range of 325 GHz below the Li(2 S 1/2 )+K(4 P 3/2 ) and Li(2 S 1/2 )+K(4 P 1/2 ) asymptotic states and observed more than 60 resonances, which we identify as rovibrational levels of 7 of 8 attractive long-range molecular potentials. The long-range dispersion coefficients and rotational constants are derived. We find large molecule formation rates of up to ∼3.5 × 10 7 s − 1 , which are shown to be comparable to those for homonuclear 40 K 2 * . Using a theoretical model we infer decay rates to the deeply bound electronic ground-state vibrational level X 1 Σ + ( v '=3) of ∼5 × 10 4 s −1 . Our results pave the way for the production of ultracold bosonic ground-state 6 Li 40 K molecules which exhibit a large intrinsic permanent electric dipole moment.