Creating a quantum degenerate gas of stable molecules via weak photoassociation
- Department of Physics, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122 (United States)
Quantum degenerate molecules represent a new paradigm for fundamental studies and practical applications. Association of already quantum degenerate atoms into molecules provides a crucial shortcut around the difficulty of cooling molecules to ultracold temperatures. Whereas association can be induced with either laser or magnetic fields, photoassociation requires impractical laser intensity to overcome poor overlap between the atom pair and molecular wave functions, and experiments are currently restricted to magnetoassociation. Here we model realistic production of a quantum degenerate gas of stable molecules via two-photon photoassociation of Bose-condensed atoms. An adiabatic change of the laser frequency converts the initial atomic condensate almost entirely into stable molecular condensate, even for low-intensity lasers. Results for dipolar LiNa provide an upper bound on the necessary photoassociation laser intensity for alkali-metal atoms {approx}30 W/cm{sup 2}, indicating a feasible path to quantum degenerate molecules beyond magnetoassociation.
- OSTI ID:
- 21440449
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. A, Vol. 82, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.82.011609; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 1050-2947
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ALKALI METALS
ATOMS
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
COOLING
LASER RADIATION
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MOLECULES
PHOTONS
WAVE FUNCTIONS
BOSONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
FUNCTIONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
METALS
RADIATIONS