Related papers: Triplet-singlet conversion by broadband optical pu…
We propose a process to convert ultracold metastable Cs$_2$ molecules in their lowest triplet state into (singlet) ground state molecules in their lowest vibrational levels. Molecules are first pumped into an excited triplet state, and the…
Some of us have recently reported in Science 321 232 (2008) vibrational cooling of translationally cold Cs_2 molecules into the lowest vibrational level v=0 of the singlet X 1Sigma_g ground electronic state. Starting from a sample of cold…
The methods producing cold molecules from cold atoms tend to leave molecular ensembles with substantial residual internal energy. For instance, Cs2 molecules initially formed via photoassociation of cold Cs atoms are in several vibrational…
We have recently demonstrated that optical pumping methods combined with photoassociation of ultra-cold atoms can produce ultra-cold and dense samples of molecules in their absolute rovibronic ground state. More generally, both the external…
We demonstrate full quantum state control of two species of single atoms using optical tweezers and assemble the atoms into a molecule. Our demonstration includes 3D ground-state cooling of a single atom (Cs) in an optical tweezer,…
Singlet fission, the molecular process through which photons are effectively converted into pairs of lower energy triplet excitons, holds promise as a means of boosting photovoltaic device efficiencies. In the preceding article of this…
We demonstrate rotational and vibrational cooling of cesium dimers by optical pumping techniques. We use two laser sources exciting all the populated rovibrational states, except a target state that thus behaves like a dark state where…
We demonstrate the production of ultracold polar RbCs molecules in their vibronic ground state, via photoassociation of laser-cooled atoms followed by a laser-stimulated state transfer process. The resulting sample of $X ^1\Sigma^+ (v=0)$…
Molecular laser cooling and trapping requires addressing all spontaneous decays to excited vibrational states that occur at the $\gtrsim 10^{-4} - 10^{-5}$ level, which is accomplished by driving repumping transitions out of these states.…
Photoassociation of two ultracold rubidium atoms and the subsequent formation of stable molecules in the singlet ground and lowest triplet states is investigated theoretically. The method employs laser pulses inducing transitions via…
We employ two-photon spectroscopy to study the vibrational states of the triplet ground state potential ($a^3\Sigma^+$) of the $^{23}$Na$^{6}$Li molecule. Pairs of Na and Li atoms in an ultracold mixture are photoassociated into an excited…
We investigate the dynamical process of optically trapped X$^{1}$$\Sigma$$^{+}$ (v" = 0) state $^{85}$Rb$^{133}$Cs molecules distributing in J" = 1 and J" = 3 rotational states. The considered molecules, formed from short-range…
We present the first high-resolution spectroscopic study of LiCs. LiCs is formed in a heat pipe oven and studied via laser-induced fluorescence Fourier-transform spectroscopy. By exciting molecules through the X$^1\Sigma^+$-B$^1\Pi$ and…
Starting from weakly bound Feshbach molecules, we demonstrate a two-photon pathway to the dipolar ground state of bi-alkali molecules that involves only singlet-to-singlet optical transitions. This pathway eliminates the search for a…
Singlet fission may boost photovoltaic efficiency [by transforming a singlet exciton into two triplet excitons and thereby doubling the number of excited charge carriers. The primary step of singlet fission is the ultrafast creation of the…
Photoionization spectroscopy of cold cesium dimers obtained by photoassociation of cold atoms in a magneto-optical trap is reported here. In particular, we report on the observation and on the spectroscopic analysis of all the excited…
We report here on the production of an ultracold gas of tightly bound Rb2 molecules in the ro-vibrational triplet ground state, close to quantum degeneracy. This is achieved by optically transferring weakly bound Rb2 molecules to the…
Ultracold LiCs molecules in the absolute ground state X$^1\Sigma^+$, v"=0, J"=0 are formed via a single photo-association step starting from laser-cooled atoms. The selective production of v"=0, J"=2 molecules with a 50-fold higher rate is…
We propose an improved photoassociation scheme to produce ultracold molecules in their vibronic ground state for the generic case where non-adiabatic effects facilitating transfer to deeply bound levels are absent. Formation of molecules is…
Ultracold ground-state molecules can be formed from ultracold atoms via photoassociation followed by a spontaneous emission process. Typically, the molecular products are distributed over a range of final states. Here, we propose to use an…