https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2004-00161-8
Optimizing the photoassociation of cold atoms by use of chirped laser pulses
1
Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS, Bâtiment 505, Campus d'Orsay,
91405 Orsay Cedex, France
2
Institute of Space Sciences, MG-23, 76911 Magurele-Bucharest, Romania
Corresponding author: a francoise.masnou@lac.u-psud.fr
Received:
30
June
2004
Published online:
23
November
2004
Photoassociation of ultracold atoms induced by chirped picosecond
pulses is analyzed in a non-perturbative treatment by following the wavepacket
dynamics on the ground and excited surfaces. The initial state is described by a
Boltzmann distribution of stationary continuum states. The chosen example is
photoassociation of cesium atoms at temperature 
K from the 
continuum to bound levels in the external well of the
potential. We study how the modification of the pulse
characteristics (carrier frequency, duration, linear chirp rate and intensity) can
enhance the number of photoassociated molecules and suggest ways of optimizing
the production of stable molecules.
PACS: 33.80.Ps – Optical cooling of molecules; trapping / 33.80.-b – Photon interactions with molecules / 33.90.+h – Other topics in molecular properties and interactions with photons / 33.80.Gj – Diffuse spectra; predissociation, photodissociation
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2004
