https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530070105
Formation of cold Cs2 ground state molecules through photoassociation in the 1u pure long-range state
Laboratoire Aimé Cotton (Laboratoire Aimé Cotton is associated with University
of Paris-Sud.) , CNRS II, bâtiment 505, 91405 Orsay, France
Received:
19
July
1999
Published online: 15 July 2000
We report on the formation of translationally cold Cs2 ground state
molecules through photoassociation in the 
attractive molecular state
below the 
dissociation limit. The cold molecules are
obtained after spontaneous decay of photoassociated molecules in a MOT and
in a dark SPOT. We also used polarized atoms, in the f=3, 
Zeeman ground state. Purely asymptotic and adiabatic calculations including
hyperfine interaction and rotation are in excellent agreement with observed
structures. As expected, the state is actually a pure long-range
state, consisting of paired atoms, uniquely linked by the first terms of the
multipole expansion of the electrostatic interaction. A temperature of 20
K
has been measured for the
molecular cloud.
PACS: 32.80.Pj – Optical cooling of atoms; trapping / 33.20.-t – Molecular spectra / 34.20.-b – Interatomic and intermolecular potentials and forces, potential energy surfaces for collisions
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2000
