We present studies of strong coupling in single-photon photoassociation of cesium dimers using an optical dipole trap. A thermodynamic model of the trap depletion dynamics is employed to extract absolute rate coefficents. From the dependence of the rate coefficient on the photoassociation laser intensity, we observe saturation of the photoassociation scattering probability at the unitarity limit in quantitative agreement with the theoretical model by Bohn and Julienne [Phys. Rev. A 60, 414 (1999)]. Also the corresponding power broadening of the resonance width is measured. We could not observe an intensity-dependent light shift in contrast to findings for lithium and rubidium, which is attributed to the absence of a $p$ - or $d$ -wave shape resonance in cesium.We present studies of strong coupling in single-photon photoassociation of cesium dimers using an optical dipole trap. A thermodynamic model of the trap depletion dynamics is employed to extract absolute rate coefficents. From the dependence of the rate coefficient on the photoassociation laser intensity, we observe saturation of the photoassociation scattering probability at the unitarity limit in quantitative agreement with the theoretical model by Bohn and Julienne [Phys. Rev. A 60, 414 (1999)]. Also the corresponding power broadening of the resonance width is measured. We could not observe an intensity-dependent light shift in contrast to findings for lithium and rubidium, which is attributed to the absence of a $p$- or $d$-wave shape resonance in cesium.

arXiv:physics/0410006Physical Review AJan 20, 200528 citations

p

- or

d

-wave shape resonance in cesium.