26 research outputs found
Creation of ultracold molecules from a Fermi gas of atoms
Since the realization of Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) in atomic gases an
experimental challenge has been the production of molecular gases in the
quantum regime. A promising approach is to create the molecular gas directly
from an ultracold atomic gas; for example, atoms in a BEC have been coupled to
electronic ground-state molecules through photoassociation as well as through a
magnetic-field Feshbach resonance. The availability of atomic Fermi gases
provides the exciting prospect of coupling fermionic atoms to bosonic
molecules, and thus altering the quantum statistics of the system. This
Fermi-Bose coupling is closely related to the pairing mechanism for a novel
fermionic superfluid proposed to occur near a Feshbach resonance. Here we
report the creation and quantitative characterization of exotic, ultracold
K molecules. Starting with a quantum degenerate Fermi gas of atoms
at T < 150 nanoKelvin we scan over a Feshbach resonance to adiabatically create
over a quarter million trapped molecules, which we can convert back to atoms by
reversing the scan. The small binding energy of the molecules is controlled by
detuning from the Feshbach resonance and can be varied over a wide range. We
directly detect these weakly bound molecules through rf photodissociation
spectra that probe the molecular wavefunction and yield binding energies that
are consistent with theory
Atom--Molecule Coherence in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
Coherent coupling between atoms and molecules in a Bose-Einstein condensate
(BEC) has been observed. Oscillations between atomic and molecular states were
excited by sudden changes in the magnetic field near a Feshbach resonance and
persisted for many periods of the oscillation. The oscillation frequency was
measured over a large range of magnetic fields and is in excellent quantitative
agreement with the energy difference between the colliding atom threshold
energy and the energy of the bound molecular state. This agreement indicates
that we have created a quantum superposition of atoms and diatomic molecules,
which are chemically different species.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure