Physical Review A
Photoassociation dynamics driven by a modulated two-color laser field
Wei Zhang, Zeyu Zhao, Ting Xie, Gao‐Ren Wang, Yin Hui Huang, Shu‐Lin Cong
Abstract
Photoassociation (PA) dynamics of ultracold cesium atoms steered by a modulated two-color laser field $\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}E(t)={E}_{0}f(t)\mathrm{cos}(\frac{2\ensuremath{\pi}}{{T}_{p}}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\varphi})\mathrm{cos}({\ensuremath{\omega}}_{L}t)$ is investigated theoretically by numerically solving the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation. The PA dynamics is sensitive to the phase of envelope (POE) $\ensuremath{\varphi}$ and the period of the envelope ${T}_{p}$, which indicates that it can be controlled by varying POE $\ensuremath{\varphi}$ and period ${T}_{p}$. Moreover, we introduce the time- and frequency-resolved spectrum to illustrate how the POE $\ensuremath{\varphi}$ and the period ${T}_{p}$ influence the intensity distribution of the modulated laser pulse and hence change the time-dependent population distribution of photoassociated molecules. When the Gaussian envelope contains a few oscillations, the PA efficiency is also dependent on POE $\ensuremath{\varphi}$. The modulated two-color laser field is available in the current experiment based on laser mode-lock technology.