München 2004 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 12: Quantengase I

Q 12.3: Talk

Monday, March 22, 2004, 17:00–17:15, HS 225

Observation of Rb₂ molecules produced from a Bose-Einstein condensate — •Thomas Volz, Stephan Dürr, Andreas Marte, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching

Starting with a condensate of ⁸⁷Rb atoms, molecules were created [1] by adiabatically sweeping the magnetic field across a Feshbach resonance located at 1007.4 G [2, 3]. In a Stern-Gerlach experiment the molecules are separated from the atoms by applying a magnetic-field gradient. From the measured position of the molecules their magnetic moment is extracted. It turns out that this quantity strongly depends on the magnetic field, thus revealing an avoided crossing of two bound states at 1001.7 G. It is experimentally demonstrated that this avoided crossing can be used to trap the molecules in one dimension. Heating and loss processes that accompany the production of molecules are investigated. Starting from bosonic atoms, these processes impose a severe obstacle when trying to produce a molecular BEC.

[1] S. Dürr, T. Volz, A. Marte, and G. Rempe, cond-mat/0307440.

[2] A. Marte, T. Volz, J. Schuster, S. Dürr, G. Rempe, E. G. M. van Kempen, and B. J. Verhaar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 283202 (2002).

[3] T. Volz, S. Dürr, S. Ernst, A. Marte, and G. Rempe, Phys. Rev. A 68, 010702 (2003).