München 2004 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 27: Fallen und Kühlung

Q 27.7: Talk

Tuesday, March 23, 2004, 18:00–18:15, HS 224

Saturation of the Photoassociation of Ultracold Molecules in an Optical Dipole Trap — •Roland Wester, Stephan Kraft, Marcel Mudrich, Matthias Staudt, Jörg Lange, and Matthias Weidemüller — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg

We trap Cesium atoms in a quasi-electrostatic trap (QUEST) formed by the focus of a CO₂-Laser. Photoassociation is induced by a tunable Titanium-Sapphire laser and is currently monitored by measuring trapped atom losses. The sensitivity of this approach allowed us to measure the Franck-Condon factors for transitions into the lowest vibrational levels of the 0_g⁻ state. Saturation of the photoassoaciation is observed both due to depletion of the trapped atomic sample and due to strong coupling of the scattering state to bound molecular states. These processes are disentangled and the results are compared to the photoassociation model by Bohn and Julienne. The photoassociation rate coefficient is found to saturate at the unitarity limit.