66 research outputs found
Production and state-selective detection of ultracold, ground state RbCs molecules
Using resonance-enhanced two-photon ionization, we detect ultracold,
ground-state RbCs molecules formed via photoassociation in a laser-cooled
mixture of 85Rb and 133Cs atoms. We obtain extensive bound-bound excitation
spectra of these molecules, which provide detailed information about their
vibrational distribution, as well as spectroscopic data on the RbCs ground
a^3\Sigma^+ and excited (2)^3\Sigma^+, (1)^1\Pi states. Analysis of this data
allows us to predict strong transitions from observed excited levels to the
absolute vibronic ground state of RbCs, potentially allowing the production of
stable, ultracold polar molecules at rates as large as 10^7 s^{-1}
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