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arXiv:physics/0308020 · Physical Review Letters

Production of Ultracold, Polar RbCs* Molecules via Photoassociation

Andrew J. Kerman, Jeremy Sage, Sunil Sainis, Thomas H. Bergeman, David P. DeMille

Published Jan 23, 2004• 206 citations
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Abstract

We have produced ultracold, polar ${\mathrm{R}\mathrm{b}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}}^{*}$ molecules via photoassociation in a laser-cooled mixture of Rb and Cs atoms. Using a model of the ${\mathrm{R}\mathrm{b}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{s}}^{*}$ molecular interaction which reproduces the observed rovibrational structure, we infer decay rates in our experiments into deeply bound $X\text{ }^{1}\ensuremath{\Sigma}^{+}$ ground-state RbCs vibrational levels as high as $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ per level. Population in such deeply bound levels could be efficiently transferred to the vibrational ground state using a single stimulated Raman transition, opening the possibility to create large samples of stable, ultracold polar molecules.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.92.033004

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Using resonance-enhanced two-photon ionization, we detect ultracold, metastable RbCs molecules formed in their lowest triplet state $a\text{ }^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}^{+}$ via photoassociation in a laser-cooled mixture of 85Rb^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb and 133Cs^{133}\mathrm{Cs}133Cs atoms. We obtain extensive bound-bound excitation spectra of these molecules, which provide detailed information about their vibrational distribution, as well as spectroscopic data on several RbCs molecular states including $a\text{ }^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}^{+}$, $(2)\text{ }^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}^{+}$, and $(1)\text{ }^{1}\ensuremath{\Pi}$. Analysis of this data allows us to predict strong transitions from observed levels to the absolute vibronic ground state of RbCs, potentially allowing the production of stable, ultracold polar molecules at rates in excess of ${10}^{6}\text{ }{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$.
Ultracold polar RbCs molecules are produced via photoassociation in a laser-cooled mixture of 85 Rb and 133 Cs atoms. The a 3 Σ + state molecules which decay from electronically excited (2)0 − state RbCs molecules are detected by resonance-enhanced two-photon ionization. The new rovibrational levels ( v = 189, 190) in the (2)0 − state are also observed, which exist in theory and have not been observed in experiments yet. The corresponding rotational constants are measured by photoassociation spectroscopy, which are consistent with theoretical calculations using a nonrigid rotor model.
We have produced ultracold polar RbCs molecules via photoassociation starting from laser-cooled 85 Rb and 133 Cs atoms in a dual-species, forced dark magneto-optical trap. The formed electronically excited RbCs* molecules correlated to the Rb(5S 1/2 ) + Cs(6P 1/2 ) dissociation limit are observed by trap loss spectroscopy. Following the decay of these excited RbCs* molecules, the formed ground state molecules are directly ionized by a two-photon single-color pulse dye laser, which is a new ionization mechanism for ground state RbCs molecules and thence detected by time-of-flight mass spectroscopy.
We demonstrate the direct formation of vibronic ground state RbCs molecules by photoassociation of ultracold atoms followed by radiative stabilization. The photoassociation proceeds through deeply bound levels of the (2)3Π0+ state. From analysis of the relevant free-to-bound and bound-to-bound Franck–Condon factors, we have predicted and experimentally verified a set of photoassociation resonances that lead to efficient creation of molecules in the v = 0 vibrational level of the X1Σ+ electronic ground state. We also compare the observed and calculated laser intensity required to saturate the photoassociation rate. We discuss the prospects for using short-range photoassociation to create and accumulate samples of ultracold polar molecules in their rovibronic ground state.
We present recent work resulting in the production of ultracold, polar RbCs molecules in their absolute vibronic ground state. The production process consists of several steps: photoassociation of laser‐cooled atoms; radiative stabilization of the resulting molecules; identification of the resulting population distribution; and laser‐stimulated stale transfer lo the vibrational ground state. We discuss the properties of the resulting sample of of X1Σ+(ν = 0) molecules, with a view to the future directions of these experiments.
We demonstrate the direct formation of vibronic ground state RbCs molecules by photoassociation of ultracold atoms followed by radiative stabilization.The photoassociation proceeds through deeply bound levels of the (2) 3 0 + state.From analysis of the relevant free-to-bound and bound-to-bound Franck-Condon factors, we have predicted and experimentally verified a set of photoassociation resonances that lead to efficient creation of molecules in the v = 0 vibrational level of the X 1 + electronic ground state.We also compare the observed and calculated laser intensity required to saturate the photoassociation rate.We discuss the prospects for using short-range photoassociation to create and accumulate samples of ultracold polar molecules in their rovibronic ground state.