Light Force in Ultracold Photoassociation

Published

January 26, 2007

Author(s)

Eduardo Gomez, A T. Black, Lincoln Turner, Eite Tiesinga, Paul D. Lett

Abstract

We study the time-resolved photoassociation of ultracold sodium in an optical dipole trap. The photoassociation laser excites pairs of atoms to molecular states of large total angular momentum at high intensities (above 20 kW/cm2). Such transitions are generally suppressed at ultracold temperatures by the centrifugal barriers for high partial waves. Time-resolved ionization measurements reveal that the atoms are accelerated by the dipole potential of the photoassociation beam. We change the collision energy by varying the potential depth, and observe a strong variation of the photoassociation rate. These results demonstrate the important role of light forces in cw photoassociation at high intensities.

Citation

Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)

Volume

75

Issue

1

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

light forces, molecular spectra, photoassociation

Citation

Gomez, E. , Black, A. , Turner, L. , Tiesinga, E. and Lett, P. (2007), Light Force in Ultracold Photoassociation, Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics) (Accessed April 19, 2025)