Using near degeneracy of molecular levels for fundamental physics

Dapeng Dai, Yong Xia, Yinfei Fang +5 more

Abstract We theoretically investigate the possibility of stimulated light force deceleration and cooling of the diatomic magnesium fluoride molecular beam with near-cycling transitions in the bichromatic standing light wave of high intensity. The weighted degeneracy and force reduction factor are considered due to the behavior of the optical bichromatic force (BCF) in near-cycling transitions with internal degeneracies, and the two-level optical Bloch equations can estimate the actual behavior of the BCF. Our simulation shows that the stimulated force exceeding the spontaneous force by a factor of 2.8 can slow down the molecular beam to several m s −1 within centimeter-scale distance, and this slowing mechanism can eliminate the need of compensation of Doppler shift during the longitudinal deceleration of the molecular beam.

Savely G. Karshenboim

Jianping Yin

M. A. Chieda, Edward E. Eyler

We examine the prospects for utilizing the optical bichromatic force (BCF) to greatly enhance laser deceleration and cooling for near-cycling transitions in small molecules. We discuss the expected behavior of the BCF in near-cycling transitions with internal degeneracies, then consider the specific example of decelerating a beam of calcium monofluoride molecules. We have selected CaF as a prototype molecule both because it has an easily accessible near-cycling transition and because it is well suited to studies of ultracold molecular physics and chemistry. We also report experimental verification of one of the key requirements, the production of large bichromatic forces in a multilevel system with significant energy level splittings, by performing tests in an atomic beam of metastable helium.

Pasquale Maddaloni, Luigi Consolino, Paolo De Natale

Yaakov Yudkin, Paul S. Julienne, Lev Khaykovich

A distinguishing feature of ultracold collisions of bosonic lithium atoms is the presence of two near-degenerate two-body continua. The influence of such a near degeneracy on the few-body physics in the vicinity of a narrow Feshbach resonance is investigated within the framework of a minimal model with two atomic continua and one closed molecular channel. The model allows analysis of the spin composition of loosely bound dimers and trimers. In the two-body sector the well-established coupled-channel calculation phenomenology of lithium is qualitatively reproduced, and its particularities are emphasized and clarified. In the three-body sector we find that the Efimov trimer energy levels follow a different functional form as compared to a single continuum scenario while the thresholds remain untouched. This three-channel model with two atomic continua complements our earlier developed three-channel model with two molecular channels [Yudkin and Khaykovich, Phys. Rev. A 103, 063303 (2021)] and suggests that the experimentally observed exotic behavior of the first excited Efimov energy level (Yudkin, Elbaz, and Khaykovich, arXiv:2004.02723) is most probably caused by the short-range details of the interaction potential.