Correlation dynamics after short-pulse photoassociation
Abstract
Two atoms in an ultracold gas are correlated at short inter-atomic distances due to threshold effects where the potential energy of their interaction dominates the kinetic energy. The correlations manifest themselves in a distinct nodal structure of the density matrix at short inter-atomic distances. Pump-probe spectroscopy has recently been suggested [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 260401 (2009)] to probe these pair correlations: A suitably chosen, short photoassociation laser pulse depletes the ground state pair density within the photoassociation window, creating a non-stationary wave packet in the electronic ground state. The dynamics of this non-stationary wave packet is monitored by time-delayed probe and ionization pulses. Here, we discuss how the choice of the pulse parameters affects experimental feasibility of this pump-probe spectroscopy of two-body correlations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0904.2408,
title = {Correlation dynamics after short-pulse photoassociation},
author = {Christiane P. Koch and Ronnie Kosloff},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.2408},
year = {2011}
}