| Issue |
EPL
Volume 119, Number 4, August 2017
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 46001 | |
| Number of page(s) | 7 | |
| Section | Condensed Matter: Structural, Mechanical and Thermal Properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/119/46001 | |
| Published online | 26 October 2017 | |
Observation of Bose-enhanced photoassociation products
Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam - 1098 XH Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(a) Sr2molecules@strontiumBEC.com
Received: 1 August 2017
Accepted: 28 September 2017
We produce 
molecules using Bose-enhanced Raman photoassociation. We apply the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) technique on a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) to produce more than 
ultracold molecules. This chemical reaction is only made possible because of the Bose enhancement of the optical transition dipole moment between the initial atomic state and an intermediate molecular state. We study the effect of Bose enhancement by measuring the transition Rabi frequency in a BEC and by comparing it with measurements for two atoms in sites of a Mott insulator. By breaking the dimers' bond and directly observing the separated atoms, we measure the molecular inelastic collision rate parameters. We discuss the possibility of applying Bose-enhanced STIRAP to convert a BEC of atoms into a BEC of molecules, and argue that the required efficiency for STIRAP is within experimental reach.
PACS: 67.85.Hj – Bose-Einstein condensates in optical potentials / 33.80.-b – Photon interactions with molecules / 32.80.Qk – Coherent control of atomic interactions with photons
© EPLA, 2017
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