Hannover 2010 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 22: Cold Molecules II

MO 22.1: Talk

Thursday, March 11, 2010, 14:00–14:15, F 142

Exploring the Rb₂ ³Σ_u electronic ground state potential — •christoph strauss¹, tetsu takekoshi², florian lang², eberhard tiemann³, rudolf grimm^2,4, and johannes hecker denschlag^1,2 — ¹Institut für Quantenmaterie der Universität Ulm, D-89081 Ulm, Germany — ²Institut für Experimentalphysik und Zentrum für Quantenphysik, Universität Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria — ³Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany — ⁴Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

The production of ultracold molecules opens up new possibilities for precision spectroscopy. For alkali dimers, triplet states are of special interest, since they are not easily accessible in conventional setups. In our experiments we investigate the triplet ³Σ_u(5S_1/2+5S_1/2) electronic ground state potential, mapping out in detail the vibrational, rotational, hyperfine and Zeeman structure with an absolute accuracy of about 30 MHz. Starting with a sample of 3x10⁴ ultracold Rb₂ Feshbach molecules in an optical lattice we use optical Raman transitions to couple to the unknown levels. Molecular properties like magnetic moments, rotational and vibrational constants are extracted. In addition, it was also possible to directly observe deeply bound states which consist of a singlet-triplet mixture. After adjusting a few model parameters, the measurements are in general in excellent agreement with calculations. These results will be relevant for future experiments with ultracold Rb₂ molecules, e.g. cold collisions and molecular BEC.