Formation of ultracold {sup 7}Li{sup 85}Rb molecules in the lowest triplet electronic state by photoassociation and their detection by ionization spectroscopy

Journal Article · Sat Mar 21 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Chemical Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4914917· OSTI ID:22415538

Altaf, Adeel; Dutta, Sourav; Lorenz, John; Pérez-Ríos, Jesús ^[1]; Chen, Yong P.

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 (United States)

We report the formation of ultracold {sup 7}Li{sup 85}Rb molecules in the a{sup 3}Σ{sup +} electronic state by photoassociation (PA) and their detection via resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI). With our dual-species Li and Rb magneto-optical trap apparatus, we detect PA resonances with binding energies up to ∼62 cm{sup −1} below the {sup 7}Li 2s {sup 2}S{sub 1/2} + {sup 85}Rb 5p {sup 2}P{sub 1/2} asymptote. In addition, we use REMPI spectroscopy to probe the a{sup 3}Σ{sup +} state and excited electronic 3{sup 3}Π and 4{sup 3}Σ{sup +} states and identify a{sup 3}Σ{sup +} (v″ = 7–13), 3{sup 3}Π (v{sub Π}′ = 0–10), and 4{sup 3}Σ{sup +} (v{sub Σ}′ = 0–5) vibrational levels. Our line assignments agree well with ab initio calculations. These preliminary spectroscopic studies on previously unobserved electronic states are crucial to discovering transition pathways for transferring ultracold LiRb molecules created via PA to deeply bound rovibrational levels of the electronic ground state.

• OSTI ID: 22415538
• Journal Information: Journal of Chemical Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Physics Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 142; ISSN JCPSA6; ISSN 0021-9606
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
BINDING ENERGY
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
GROUND STATES
LITHIUM 7
MOLECULES
PHOTOIONIZATION
PROBES
RUBIDIUM 85
TRAPS
TRIPLETS
VIBRATIONAL STATES