Dynamical interferences to probe short-pulse photoassociation of Rb atoms and stabilization of Rb_2 dimers

Mur-Petit, Jordi; Luc-Koenig, Eliane; Masnou-Seeuws, Françoise

Dynamical interferences to probe short-pulse photoassociation of Rb atoms and stabilization of Rb_2 dimers

Authors

Mur-Petit, Jordi

Luc-Koenig, Eliane

Masnou-Seeuws, Françoise

Description

We analyze the formation of Rb_2 molecules with short photoassociation pulses applied to a cold Rb-85 sample. A pump laser pulse couples a continuum level of the ground electronic state X ^1Σ_{g}^+ with bound levels in the 0_{u}^+ (5S+5P_{1/2}) and 0_{u}^+ (5S+5P_{3/2}) vibrational series. The nonadiabatic coupling between the two excited channels induces time-dependent beatings in the populations. We propose to take advantage of these oscillations to design further laser pulses that probe the photoassociation process via photoionization or that optimize the stabilization in deep levels of the ground state.
4 pages, 5 figures. v2: major changes in introduction, discussion clarified. v3: minor corrections. v4: matches published version