Abstract The laser synthesis of alkaline earth dimers (Be2, Mg2, Ca2, Sr2, and Ba2) is investigated by theoretical calculation. Photoassociation based on ab initio calculations is rationalized by Franck‐Condon filtering. The optimal target states of photoassociations have been obtained, which are A1∑+u state for Be2, Mg2, and Ca2, and are B1∑+u state for Sr2 and Ba2, corresponding to vibrational transition bands from X1∑+g to excited state are 0‐1, 0‐7, 0‐10, 0‐13, and 0‐3, respectively. The proposed laser drive transitions to target states are also investigated that range from 350 to 740 nm. By using quantum wave‐packet dynamic methods, we calculated the absorption cross sections of photon energy and yields for the selected states of photoassociation. It show that the most sensitive molecules for quantum selective control of photoassociation are Be2 and Ba2 for alkaline earth dimers. These important parameters will provide a feasible scheme for further experimental researches.
Abstract The laser synthesis of alkaline earth dimers (Be2, Mg2, Ca2, Sr2, and Ba2) is investigated by theoretical calculation. Photoassociation based on ab initio calculations is rationalized by Franck‐Condon filtering. The optimal target states of photoassociations have been obtained, which are A1∑+u state for Be2, Mg2, and Ca2, and are B1∑+u state for Sr2 and Ba2, corresponding to vibrational transition bands from X1∑+g to excited state are 0‐1, 0‐7, 0‐10, 0‐13, and 0‐3, respectively. The proposed laser drive transitions to target states are also investigated that range from 350 to 740 nm. By using quantum wave‐packet dynamic methods, we calculated the absorption cross sections of photon energy and yields for the selected states of photoassociation. It show that the most sensitive molecules for quantum selective control of photoassociation are Be2 and Ba2 for alkaline earth dimers. These important parameters will provide a feasible scheme for further experimental researches.
The selective control of photoassociation of Yb2 molecule is investigated in theory. Based on ab initio to rationalize Franck-Condon filtering, the optimal target states of photoassociation have been obtained. That correspond to vibrational transition levels from X1Σ+g to excited state (A1Σu+, B1Πu , C1Σu+, D1Πu) are v’=23, 50, 55, and 0, respectively. The proposed laser drive transitions to target states for association process at wavelength A1Σu+: 464.7nm, B1Πu: 373.1nm, C1Σu+: 361.8nm, D1Πu: 339.1nm are determined. By using quantum wave-packet dynamic methods, we calculated the yields with time evaluation for the selected target states. Interacting with a resonant laser pulse, the projections of time-dependent wave functions of initial states on the target vibrational eigenstates reflected the photoassociation yields of Yb2. For target A1Σu+, using gaussian pulse made the value of v’=23 up to 97% at 725fs. After a laser pulse, that the positive chirp promotes the yield of projection of vibrational states to increase, but the negative chirp inhibits it decrease. For D1Πu state, when laser intensity is 1.0×1014 W/cm2, not only the purity is high but also the yield is high reached 99% of target state v’=0 at 1570fs. That is to say, by changing the laser parameters and pulse shapes, it could much easier control the photochemical along our desired direction. These conditions will provide an important reference and suggest a scheme for a feasible photoassociation for further experimental and theoretical researches.
The photoassociation of alkali metal molecules (Rb2, Cs2, and RbCs) at short range is investigated in theory. Based on ab initio calculations to rationalize Franck–Condon filtering, the target states of photoassociation have been obtained. They correspond to vibrational transition levels from excited state (Rb2: v′ = 17–21, Cs2: v′ = 21–25, and RbCs: v′ = 18–22) to ground state. By using quantum wave-packet dynamic methods, the yields with time evaluation of the selected states are calculated interacting with a resonant laser pulse. Using gaussian pulse leads to the yield of Rb2 up to 82% at 860 fs. After a laser pulse, the positive chirp promotes the yield of vibrational states to increase, but the negative chirp inhibits it. That is to say, by changing the laser parameters and pulse shapes, it is much easier to control the photochemical process along desired direction. For photoassociation of alkali-metal dimers, homonuclear molecules have a better response to laser pulse than heteronuclear molecules. The efficiency of photochemical reaction of homonuclear molecules is much better and the photoassociative yield is much higher. Those conditions will provide an important reference and suggest a scheme for a feasible photoassociation for further experimental and theoretical research.
The selective control of photoassociation of Yb2 is investigated in theory. Based on ab initio to rationalize Franck–Condon filtering, the optimal target states of photoassociation have been obtained. The corresponding vibrational transitions from X1Σ+g to the excited state (A1Σu+, B1Πu, C1Σu+, and D1Πu) are v ′ = 23, 50, 55, and 0, respectively. By using quantum wave packet dynamic methods, we calculated the yields with time evaluation for the selected target states. The projections of time-dependent wave functions of initial states on the target vibrational eigenstates reflected the synthetic yields of Yb2. For target A1Σu+, we used Gaussian pulse to make the yield of v ′ = 23 up to 97% at 725 fs. After a laser pulse, the positive chirp promoted the yield of vibrational states to increase, but the negative chirp inhibited its decrease. For the D1Πu state, when laser intensity is 1.0 × 1014 W/cm2, the purity and yield of target state v ′ = 0 reached the maximum at 1350 fs. That is to say, changing the laser parameters and pulse shapes could control the photochemical reaction along our desired direction. These conditions will provide an important reference and suggest a scheme for a feasible photoassociation of further experimental and theoretical research studies. Current study may promote an important step toward the realization of highly accurate quantum manipulation and material synthesis.
Alkaline-earth dimers are now been used, as new grounds for, testing fundamental physics laws, precision measurements and quantum computation. As a starting point for such experiments, one needs a very good knowledge of the electronic structure, energetics and long-range behavior of these molecular ions. We perform accurate ab initio calculations for the ground and low-lying excited states of Be2+, Mg2+, Ca2+ and Sr2+ molecular ions. We have also calculated the spectroscopic constants, electronic transition dipole moments, polarizabilities and long-range dispersion coefficients for the various alkaline-earth ionic dimers. We have extended our calculations to study heteronuclear species of alkaline-earth molecular ions, like BeCa+, and also mixed alkali alkaline-earth species like NaCa+. We calculated photoassociation (PA) pathways for formation of cold molecular ions and also studied corrections to the Born-Oppenheimer Hamiltonian: non-adiabatic couplings and hyperfine structure due to nuclear spins and electric quadrupoles. We believe, this work would lay foundation, not only for new experiments in ultracold physics and chemistry, but would also provide valuable starting point for theoretical calculations involving low temperature scattering and resonant charge transfer.
Photoassociation with short laser pulses has been proposed as a technique to create ultracold ground state molecules. A broad-band excitation seems the natural choice to drive the series of excitation and deexcitation steps required to form a molecule in its vibronic ground state from two scattering atoms. First attempts at femtosecond photoassociation were, however, hampered by the requirement to eliminate the atomic excitation leading to trap depletion. On the other hand, molecular levels very close to the atomic transition are to be excited. The broad bandwidth of a femtosecond laser then appears to be rather an obstacle. To overcome the ostensible conflict of driving a narrow transition by a broad-band laser, we suggest a two-photon photoassociation scheme. In the weak-field regime, a spectral phase pattern can be employed to eliminate the atomic line. When the excitation is carried out by more than one photon, different pathways in the field can be interfered constructively or destructively. In the strong-field regime, a temporal phase can be applied to control dynamic Stark shifts. The atomic transition is suppressed by choosing a phase which keeps the levels out of resonance. We derive analytical solutions for atomic two-photon dark states in both the weak-field and strong-field regime. Two-photon excitation may thus pave the way toward coherent control of photoassociation. Ultimately, the success of such a scheme will depend on the details of the excited electronic states and transition dipole moments. We explore the possibility of two-photon femtosecond photoassociation for alkali and alkaline-earth metal dimers and present a detailed study for the example of calcium.
In this work, the coherence properties of the matter is studied in the frame of photoassociation of ultracold alkali atoms by using short and ultrashort laser pulses. Ultracold can be described with temperatures below 100 microK. When energy approaches the ultracold regime, quantum properties of matter becomes visible. In this regime matter such as atoms and molecules show wave properties. Coherent control employs the wave properties of matter to steer a physical process toward a desired target. It can be implemented with coherent radiation such as laser light. In particular, femtosecond laser pulses can be shaped. They thus have become a standard tool for coherent control. Since matter shows its wave properties most clearly at ultralow temperatures, ultracold matter represents the perfect object for coherent control. In the other hand using incoherent fields on ultracold matter does not give us good opportunities to drive quantum properties of it. In this work, it is aimed to bring together ultracold and ultrafast regimes in the frame of photoassociation. Photoassociation, excitation of two colliding atoms by laser light creates very weakly bound molecules. In the first part of this study, femtosecond photoassociation experiments are simulated. In these experiments and simulations, the broad spectrum of the femtosecond pulses addressing both atomic and molecular transitions is manipulated in a way to prevent the atomic transitions and to promote the molecular transitions. Then the effect of chirp and the effect of additional phase to the pulse are examined. Excited and ground state population are monitored by carrying out quantum dynamical simulations. The driving ultrafast dipole dynamics are presented. The photoassociation rate is limited by the low initial atomic pair density at inter-nuclear separations where photoassociation is feasible. In the second part of this study, a new scheme is proposed in order to manage this low pair density by manipulating the shape resonances of the initial atom pair. A shape resonance which is a metastable state occurs when some part of the wavefunction of partial waves with J > 0 trapped by a rotational barrier shows a bound structure in the closer internuclear distances where the rest of it shows a scattering wavefunction behavior. Most of the shape resonances in alkaline and alkaline earth metals occur typically at temperatures of a few milli-Kelvin. Therefore, the thermal weight of a shape resonance at photoassociation temperatures is quite small. By applying a non-resonant laser to the system the energy of the resonant state is brought close to the energies those corresponding to the photoassociation temperatures. Thus, the thermal weight of a shape resonance is amplified and initial pair density is enhanced. This effect is studied in both adiabatic and non-adiabatic time scales with respect to the rotational period of the system, intensity effects on the resonance energy and lifetime are presented.