Issue Europhys. Lett. Volume 69, Number 5, March 2005 Page(s) 706 - 712 Section General DOI 10.1209/epl/i2004-10427-7 Published online 02 February 2005

Europhys. Lett., 69 (5), pp. 706-712 (2005)
DOI: 10.1209/epl/i2004-10427-7

Efficient creation of molecules from a cesium Bose-Einstein condensate

M. Mark¹, T. Kraemer¹, J. Herbig¹, C. Chin¹, H.-C. Nägerl¹ and R. Grimm<sup>1, 2

1</sup>  Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
²  Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften - 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

received 29 September 2004; accepted in final form 12 January 2005
published online 2 February 2005

Abstract
We report a new scheme to create weakly bound molecules from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The method is based on switching the magnetic field to a narrow Feshbach resonance and yields a high atom-molecule conversion efficiency of more than 30%, a factor of three higher than obtained with conventional magnetic-field ramps. The molecules are created in a single g-wave rotational quantum state. The observed dependence of the conversion efficiency on the magnetic field and atom density shows scattering processes beyond two-body coupling to occur in the vicinity of the Feshbach resonance.

PACS
03.75.-b - Matter waves.
34.50.-s - Scattering of atoms and molecules.
32.80.Pj - Optical cooling of atoms; trapping.

© EDP Sciences 2005

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