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Laser Physics

A review on the formation of heteronuclear cold molecules

Carlos Renato Menegatti, Bruno Marangoni, Luís Gustavo Marcassa

Published Nov 1, 2008• 10 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this paper, we review the present status of the formation of cold ground-state heteronuclear molecules in cold-trapped atomic samples. The experimental techniques and results are presented and reviewed. The molecule production rates are compared among themselves as well as with existing theories. We conclude that theoretical and experimental improvements are necessary to help plan new experiments. The experimental results indicate that KRb and RbCs are the best systems for heteronuclear molecule production.

DOI
10.1134/s1054660x08110169

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In this paper, we review the present status of the formation of cold ground-state heteronuclear molecules in cold-trapped atomic samples. The experimental techniques and results are presented and reviewed. The molecule production rates are compared among themselves as well as with existing theories. We conclude that theoretical and experimental improvements are necessary to help plan new experiments. The experimental results indicate that KRb and RbCs are the best systems for heteronuclear molecule production.
We report the observation of translationally ultracold heteronuclear ground-state molecules in a two-species magneto-optical trap containing 39K and 85Rb atoms. The KRb molecules are produced via photoassociation and detected by multiphoton ionization. We had characterized their temperature and measured their formation rate constant. We believe that the two-species trap could be used as a reliable source of ultracold molecules to be captured by electrostatic, magnetic, or optical traps. This possibility will certainly motivate further investigation of quantum collective effects as well as high-resolution spectroscopy of the rovibrational level structure of cold heteronuclear molecular systems.
Ultracold heteronuclear polar KRb molecules have enjoyed tremendous attention for many years now. The presence of a large molecule fixed dipole moment in the absolute rovibrational ground state (v''=0, J'' =0) makes external control very convenient, which opens up the prospect of studying various physical phenomenon in many areas of physics and chemistry. The methods used so far to produce the absolute ground state of KRb have involved very complicated techniques. Molecules formed in weakly bound levels were transferred to the absolute ground state through the multiple steps of transfer processes involving several lasers with extremely narrow linewidths. My thesis research demonstrates an alternate simpler method of formation of the lowest vibrational levels of the ground state utilizing PA combined with radiative decay, which has been so far useful to form ultracold molecules in the higher vibrational levels of the ground state. This thesis presents two main topics of research. The first part of the thesis consists of results describing the scheme which provides a single-step, continuous, and irreversible method of forming KRb molecules in their absolute ground state. The second topic involves spectroscopy on the two excited electronic states of KRb which may provide alternative pathways for the formation of the absolute ground state (X 1Σ+, (v''=0, J'' =0)) and suitable pathways for efficient formation of the lowest metastable state (a 3Σ+, (v''=0, N'' =0)). I believe this research will lay the foundation for many new exciting experiments in the future.
In this paper we report the observation of translationally ultracold heteronuclear groundstate molecules in a two species magneto‐optical trap (MOT) containing 39K and 85Rb atoms. The KRb molecules are produced via photoassociation and detected by multiphoton ionization. Their temperature and formation rate constant were characterized. The two species MOTs may be used in the future as a reliable source of ultracold molecules to be captured by electrostatic, magnetic or optical traps. This possibility will certainly motivate further investigation of quantum collective effects as well as high‐resolution spectroscopy of the rovibrational level structure of cold heteronuclear molecular systems.
Heteronuclear polar molecules have recently attracted enormous attention owing to their ground state having a large electric dipole moment. The long range anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction in such systems is the basis for a variety of applications including quantum computing, precision measurements, ultracold chemistry and quantum simulations. Heteronuclear bi-alkali molecules, only a small subset of polar molecules, have received special attention mainly because the constituent alkali atoms are easy to laser cool and can be relatively easily associated to form molecules at ultracold temperatures. Our choice, the LiRb molecule, is motivated by the relatively high dipole moment (4.1 Debye) of the LiRb molecule in its rovibronic ground state. In this thesis, we study the LiRb molecule using laser spectroscopy and report, for the first time, the production of ultracold LiRb molecules by photoassociation (PA). The LiRb molecule is the least studied among all bi-alkali molecules and the first spectroscopic measurements on hot vapor phase LiRb molecules were reported only in 2011. We describe these measurements and their significance in chapter 2, after a brief introduction to the field of ultracold polar molecules in chapter 1. In chapter 3, we discuss our apparatus for simultaneous cooling and trapping of Li and Rb atoms in a dual-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) and report the measurement of interspecies collision-induced losses. In chapter 4, we describe the production of ultracold LiRb molecules in excited electronic states by photoassociation (PA). We report the measurements of the C6 coefficients for the Li (2s 2S1/2) + Rb (5p 2P1/2) and the Li (2s 2S1/2) + Rb (5p 2P3/2) asymptotes. We find a molecule formation rate (PLiRb) as high as 3.5x107 s-1 and a PA rate coefficient (KPA) as high as 1.3x10-10 cm3/s, the highest among heteronuclear bi-alkali molecules. In chapter 5, we discuss results on two-photon PA and we conclude, in chapter 6, with a road roadmap of future experiments for the production and detection of ultracold LiRb molecules in their rovibronic ground state.
Summary form only given. In order to characterize the K-Cs sample we performed trap loss measurements to evaluate the heteronuclear losses introduced by the overlapped samples one to each other. We present the heteronuclear loss rate observed on a cesium magneto-optical trap (MOT) due to collisions with the cold potassium atoms as a function of the Cs trap laser intensity. The result shows that the heteronuclear collisions are not likely to compromise the MOT number and density of trapped atoms. For the regular experimental conditions, very few heteronuclear molecules are expected to be produced. Therefore, to get better signal to noise ratio we decided to apply the pulsed ion production technique. Briefly, in the experiment there are two phases: trapping and probe. During the trap phase, the heteronuclear excited quasimolecules are photoassociated and during the probe phase they are photoionized by a laser pulse. The ions are collected by a channeltron and by the time-of-flight one may distinguish between the atomic and the molecular ions. The time diagram representing the experiment is shown. By scanning the frequency of the photoassociating probe laser, we shall be able to measure the bound states of the K-Cs molecule, and then to obtain the heteronuclear scattering length.