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Physical Review A

Hyperfine structure of the Na2 0g− long-range molecular state

Carl J. Williams, Eite Tiesinga, Paul S. Julienne

Published Apr 1, 1996• 29 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report a full theoretical calculation of the rovibrational structure of the ${\mathrm{Na}}_{2} {0}_{g}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ state, including hyperfine structure. The purely long-range ${0}_{g}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ state has been observed in the photoassociation spectroscopy of ultracold trapped alkali-metal atoms. For the lighter alkali-metal atoms (Li, Na, and K), the purely long-range states are completely characterized by atomic data since the inner turning point of the potentials are at internuclear separations where exchange interactions are still negligible.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.53.r1939

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We have observed the spectrum of long range molecular states of singly excited Na2{\mathrm{Na}}_{2}Na2​ formed by photoassociation during ultracold associative ionization collisions of laser-cooled Na atoms. The low kinetic energy of the collision allows us to obtain very high resolution spectra and to observe states close to the dissociation limit. The spectrum shows regular vibrational series characteristic of the 1/R3{\mathit{R}}^{3}R3 long range portion of the 1g{1}_{\mathit{g}}1g​ potential (asymptotically S1/2{\mathit{S}}_{1/2}S1/2​+P3/2{\mathit{P}}_{3/2}P3/2​) as well as molecular hyperfine structure within these peaks. We extract potential parameters and compare with recent theory.
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Recent experiments at NIST and the University of Maryland on cooled and trapped Na atoms have revealed several 1- and 2-color spectral features associated with the hyperfine structure of the Na atom. We have calculated the adiabatic molecular potential curves in a total angular momentum basis, including hyperfine structure, of the molecular states of the alkali dimer molecules that correlate to the {sup 2}P{sub 3/2}+{sup 2}S separated atoms. We have also calculated the hyperfine line strengths for optical coupling to the {sup 2}S +{sup 2}S ground molecular states. These are used to interpret the new experimental features for trapped Na as due to free-bound-bound or free-bound-free spectra of the Na{sub 2} molecule. New dynamical features illustrating optical control of ultracold reactions will be discussed. Supported in part by ONR.