16,650 research outputs found
Chiral discrimination in optical binding
The laser-induced intermolecular force that exists between two or more particles in the presence of an electromagnetic field is commonly termed âoptical binding.â Distinct from the single-particle forces that are at play in optical trapping at the molecular level, the phenomenon of optical binding is a manifestation of the coupling between optically induced dipole moments in neutral particles. In other, more widely known areas of optics, there are many examples of chiral discriminationâsignifying the different response a chiral material has to the handedness of an optical input. In the present analysis, extending previous work on chiral discrimination in optical binding, a mechanism is identified using a quantum electrodynamical approach. It is shown that the optical binding force between a pair of chiral molecules can be significantly discriminatory in nature, depending upon both the handedness of the interacting particles and the polarization of the incident light, and it is typically several orders of magnitude larger than previously reported
Analysis of Photoassociation Spectra for Giant Helium Dimers
We perform a theoretical analysis to interpret the spectra of purely
long-range helium dimers produced by photoassociation (PA) in an ultra-cold gas
of metastable helium atoms. The experimental spectrum obtained with the PA
laser tuned closed to the atomic line has been
reported in a previous Letter. Here, we first focus on the corrections to be
applied to the measured resonance frequencies in order to infer the molecular
binding energies. We then present a calculation of the vibrational spectra for
the purely long-range molecular states, using adiabatic potentials obtained
from perturbation theory. With retardation effects taken into account, the
agreement between experimental and theoretical determinations of the spectrum
for the purely long-range potential well is very good. The results
yield a determination of the lifetime of the atomic state
Spectroscopy of Ultracold, Trapped Cesium Feshbach Molecules
We explore the rich internal structure of Cs_2 Feshbach molecules. Pure
ultracold molecular samples are prepared in a CO_2-laser trap, and a multitude
of weakly bound states is populated by elaborate magnetic-field ramping
techniques. Our methods use different Feshbach resonances as input ports and
various internal level crossings for controlled state transfer. We populate
higher partial-wave states of up to eight units of rotational angular momentum
(l-wave states). We investigate the molecular structure by measurements of the
magnetic moments for various states. Avoided level crossings between different
molecular states are characterized through the changes in magnetic moment and
by a Landau-Zener tunneling method. Based on microwave spectroscopy, we present
a precise measurement of the magnetic-field dependent binding energy of the
weakly bound s-wave state that is responsible for the large background
scattering length of Cs. This state is of particular interest because of its
quantum-halo character.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, 4 table
Formation of ultracold SrYb molecules in an optical lattice by photoassociation spectroscopy: theoretical prospects
State-of-the-art {\em ab initio} techniques have been applied to compute the
potential energy curves for the SrYb molecule in the Born-Oppenheimer
approximation for the ground state and first fifteen excited singlet and
triplet states within the coupled-cluster framework. The leading long-range
coefficients describing the dispersion interactions at large interatomic
distances are also reported. The electric transition dipole moments have been
obtained as the first residue of the polarization propagator computed with the
linear response coupled-cluster method restricted to single and double
excitations. Spin-orbit coupling matrix elements have been evaluated using the
multireference configuration interaction method restricted to single and double
excitations with a large active space. The electronic structure data was
employed to investigate the possibility of forming deeply bound ultracold SrYb
molecules in an optical lattice in a photoassociation experiment using
continuous-wave lasers. Photoassociation near the intercombination line
transition of atomic strontium into the vibrational levels of the strongly
spin-orbit mixed , , , and states with
subsequent efficient stabilization into the vibrational
level of the electronic ground state is proposed. Ground state SrYb molecules
can be accumulated by making use of collisional decay from
to . Alternatively, photoassociation and stabilization to
can proceed via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage
provided that the trapping frequency of the optical lattice is large enough and
phase coherence between the pulses can be maintained over at least tens of
microseconds
Precise study of asymptotic physics with subradiant ultracold molecules
Weakly bound molecules have physical properties without atomic analogues,
even as the bond length approaches dissociation. In particular, the internal
symmetries of homonuclear diatomic molecules result in formation of two-body
superradiant and subradiant excited states. While superradiance has been
demonstrated in a variety of systems, subradiance is more elusive due to the
inherently weak interaction with the environment. Here we characterize the
properties of deeply subradiant molecular states with intrinsic quality factors
exceeding via precise optical spectroscopy with the longest
molecule-light coherent interaction times to date. We find that two competing
effects limit the lifetimes of the subradiant molecules, with different
asymptotic behaviors. The first is radiative decay via weak magnetic-dipole and
electric-quadrupole interactions. We prove that its rate increases
quadratically with the bond length, confirming quantum mechanical predictions.
The second is nonradiative decay through weak gyroscopic predissociation, with
a rate proportional to the vibrational mode spacing and sensitive to
short-range physics. This work bridges the gap between atomic and molecular
metrology based on lattice-clock techniques, yielding new understanding of
long-range interatomic interactions and placing ultracold molecules at the
forefront of precision measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Giant Helium Dimers Produced by Photoassociation of Ultracold Metastable Atoms
We produce giant helium dimers by photoassociation of metastable helium atoms
in a magnetically trapped, ultracold cloud. The photoassociation laser is
detuned red of the atomic line and produces strong heating
of the sample when resonant with molecular bound states. The temperature of the
cloud serves as an indicator of the molecular spectrum. We report good
agreement between our spectroscopic measurements and our calculations of the
five bound states belonging to a purely long-range potential well.
These previously unobserved states have classical inner turning points of about
150 and outer turning points as large as 1150 .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Formation and interactions of cold and ultracold molecules: new challenges for interdisciplinary physics
Progress on researches in the field of molecules at cold and ultracold
temperatures is reported in this review. It covers extensively the experimental
methods to produce, detect and characterize cold and ultracold molecules
including association of ultracold atoms, deceleration by external fields and
kinematic cooling. Confinement of molecules in different kinds of traps is also
discussed. The basic theoretical issues related to the knowledge of the
molecular structure, the atom-molecule and molecule-molecule mutual
interactions, and to their possible manipulation and control with external
fields, are reviewed. A short discussion on the broad area of applications
completes the review.Comment: to appear in Reports on Progress in Physic
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