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Physical Review Letters

Photoassociative Spectroscopy as a Self-Sufficient Tool for the Determination of the Cs Triplet Scattering Length

Cyril Drag, B. Laburthe-Tolra, B. T'Jampens, D. Comparat, M. Allegrini, A. Crubellier, P. Pillet

Published Aug 14, 2000• 40 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In photoassociation spectroscopy, the line intensities of a given vibrational progression exhibit zero-signal modulation reflecting the node structure of the $s$-wave ground state wave function of two free colliding atoms. This leads to the determination of the scattering length. We performed photoassociation of cold Cs atoms polarized in the Zeeman sublevel $f\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}4$, ${m}_{f}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}4$. We analyzed the intensities of the lines associated with the ${\mathrm{Cs}}_{2}$ ${0}_{g}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ state dissociating to the ${6s}_{1/2}{+6p}_{3/2}$ asymptote. This yields a value of the Cs triplet state scattering length, ${a}_{T}{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\ensuremath{-}530a}_{0}$, while consistency requirements impose a value of the multipole ground state molecular coefficient, ${C}_{6}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}6510$ a.u.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.85.1408

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In photoassociation spectroscopy, the line intensities of a given vibrational progression exhibit zero-signal modulation reflecting the node structure of the sss-wave ground state wave function of two free colliding atoms. This leads to the determination of the scattering length. We performed photoassociation of cold Cs atoms polarized in the Zeeman sublevel f=4f\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}4f=4, mf=4{m}_{f}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}4mf​=4. We analyzed the intensities of the lines associated with the Cs2{\mathrm{Cs}}_{2}Cs2​ 0g\ensuremath−{0}_{g}^{\ensuremath{-}}0g\ensuremath−​ state dissociating to the 6s1/2+6p3/2{6s}_{1/2}{+6p}_{3/2}6s1/2​+6p3/2​ asymptote. This yields a value of the Cs triplet state scattering length, aT=\ensuremath−530a0{a}_{T}{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\ensuremath{-}530a}_{0}aT​=\ensuremath−530a0​, while consistency requirements impose a value of the multipole ground state molecular coefficient, C6=6510{C}_{6}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}6510C6​=6510 a.u.
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