Photoassociation inside an optical dipole trap: absolute rate coefficients and Franck-Condon factors
Abstract
We present quantitative measurements of the photoassociation of cesium molecules inside a far-detuned optical dipole trap. A model of the trap depletion dynamics is derived which allows to extract absolute photoassociation rate coefficients for the initial single-photon photoassociation step from measured trap-loss spectra. The sensitivity of this approach is demonstrated by measuring the Franck-Condon modulation of the weak photoassociation transitions into the low vibrational levels of the outer well of the 0g- state that correlates to the 6s+6p3/2 asymptote. The measurements are compared to theoretical predictions. In a magneto-optical trap these transitions have previously only been observed indirectly through ionization of ground state molecules.
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Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0410005,
title = {Photoassociation inside an optical dipole trap: absolute rate coefficients and Franck-Condon factors},
author = {R. Wester and S. D. Kraft and M. Mudrich and M. U. Staudt and J. Lange and N. Vanhaecke and O. Dulieu and M. Weidemuller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0410005},
year = {2009}
}