Eur. Phys. J. D 65, 99-104 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2011-20072-9

Regular Article

Population redistribution in optically trapped polar molecules

¹ Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Physikalisches Institut, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
² Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS, Université Paris Sud XI, Bât. 505, 91405 Orsay, France
³ Universität Innsbruck, Institut f. Ionenphysik und Angewandte Physik, Technikerstraße 25/3, 6020 Innsbruck, Australia

^a Present address: ETH Zürich, Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 10, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
e-mail: j.deiglmayr@phys.chem.ethz.ch

Received: 30 January 2011
Received in final form: 30 May 2011
Published online: 19 September 2011

Abstract

We investigate the rovibrational population redistribution of polar molecules in the electronic ground state induced by spontaneous emission and blackbody radiation. As a model system we use optically trapped LiCs molecules formed by photoassociation in an ultracold two-species gas. The population dynamics of vibrational and rotational states is modeled using an ab initio electric dipole moment function and experimental potential energy curves. Comparison with the evolution of the v′′ = 3 electronic ground state yields good qualitative agreement. The analysis provides important input to assess applications of ultracold LiCs molecules in quantum simulation and ultracold chemistry.