U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

PUBLICATIONS

Making Cold Molecules by Time-Dependent Feshbach Resonances

Published

Author(s)

Paul S. Julienne, Eite Tiesinga, T Kohler

Abstract

Pairs of trapped atoms can be associated to make a diatomic molecule using a time dependentMagnetic field to ramp the energy of a scattering resonance state from above to below the scatteringthreshold. A relatively simple model, parameterized in terms of the background scattering lengthand resonance width and magnetic moment, can be used to predict conversion probabilities fromatoms to molecules. The model and its Landau-Zener interpretation are described and illustrated by specific calculations for 23Na, 87Rb, and 133Cs resonances. The model can be readily adapted to Bose-Einstein condensates. Comparison with full many-body calculations for the condensate case show that the model is very useful for estimating molecule formation probabilities but the modelfails to predict the presence of bursts of hot atoms that may accompany molecule formation.
Citation
Journal of Modern Optics
Volume
51
Issue
No 12
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

atom trap, Bose-Einstein condensate, cold molecules, feshbach resonance, magnetic field

Citation

Julienne, P. , Tiesinga, E. and Kohler, T. (2004), Making Cold Molecules by Time-Dependent Feshbach Resonances, Journal of Modern Optics (Accessed May 2, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact reflib@nist.gov.

Created August 1, 2004, Updated February 17, 2017