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arXiv · 0904.0244

A pump-probe study of the formation of rubidium molecules by ultrafast photoassociation of ultracold atoms

David J. McCabe·Duncan G. England·Hugo E. L. Martay·Melissa E. Friedman·Jovana Petrovic·Emiliya Dimova·Béatrice Chatel·Ian A. Walmsley
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Abstract

An experimental pump-probe study of the photoassociative creation of translationally ultracold rubidium molecules is presented together with numerical simulations of the process. The formation of loosely bound excited-state dimers is observed as a first step towards a fully coherent pump-dump approach to the stabilization of Rb$_2$ into its lowest ground vibrational states. The population that contributes to the pump-probe process is characterized and found to be distinct from a background population of pre-associated molecules.

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David J. McCabe, Duncan G. England, Hugo E. L. Martay, Melissa E. Friedman, Jovana Petrovic, Emiliya Dimova, Béatrice Chatel, Ian A. Walmsley. 2009-09-08. A pump-probe study of the formation of rubidium molecules by ultrafast photoassociation of ultracold atoms. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.80.033404

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