Related papers: Molecule-molecule and atom-molecule collisions wit…
Recent experiments on ultracold non-reactive dipolar molecules have observed high two-body losses, even though these molecules can undergo neither inelastic, nor reactive (as they are in their absolute ground state), nor light-assisted…
We observe magnetically tuned collision resonances for ultracold Cs2 molecules stored in a CO2-laser trap. By magnetically levitating the molecules against gravity, we precisely measure their magnetic moment. We find an avoided level…
We report an experimental demonstration of optical 2DCS in cold atoms. The experiment integrates a collinear 2DCS setup with a magneto-optical trap (MOT), in which cold rubidium (Rb) atoms are prepared at a temperature of about 200 $\mu$K…
We investigate the lifetimes of complexes formed in ultracold molecule collisions. Employing both transition-state-theory and an optical model approach we examine processes that can extend the lifetime of complexes beyond that predicted by…
Chemical reactions typically proceed via stochastic encounters between reactants. Going beyond this paradigm, we combine exactly two atoms into a single, controlled reaction. The experimental apparatus traps two individual laser-cooled…
Molecular magneto-optical traps (MOTs) typically capture orders of magnitude fewer particles than their atomic counterparts due in part to their significantly lower capture velocities. Here, we employ a Stochastic Schr\"odinger Equation…
We report on experiments investigating the collisional properties of atoms at ultralow collision energies using an all-optical atom collider. By using a pair of optical tweezers, we can manipulate two ultracold atom clouds and collide them…
We simulate collisions between two atoms, which move in an optical lattice under the dipole-dipole interaction. The model describes simultaneously the two basic dynamical processes, namely the Sisyphus cooling of single atoms, and the…
In mergoassociation, two atoms in separate optical traps are combined to form a molecule when the traps are merged. Previous theoretical treatments have considered only the relative motion of the atoms, neglecting coupling to the motion of…
We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of cold reactive collisions between laser-cooled Ca+ ions and Rb atoms in an ion-atom hybrid trap. We observe rich chemical dynamics which are interpreted in terms of non-adiabatic…
We study light-assisted collisions in an ensemble containing a small number (~3) of cold Rb87 atoms trapped in a microscopic dipole trap. Using our ability to operate with one atom exactly in the trap, we measure the one-body heating rate…
In weakly bound diatomic molecules, energy levels are closely spaced and thus more susceptible to mixing by magnetic fields than in the constituent atoms. We use this effect to control the strengths of forbidden optical transitions in…
We report on the observation and characterisation of an inelastic loss feature in collisions between ultracold Rb-85 |F=2, m_F=-2> atoms at a magnetic field of 220 G. Our apparatus creates ultracold Rb-85 clouds by sympathetic cooling with…
We employ a continuous dynamical decoupling scheme to suppress the decoherence induced by elastic collisions of cold atoms. Using a continuous echo pulse we achieve a thirty-fold increase in the coherence time of Rb87 atoms trapped in a…
Advances in atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics techniques allowed the cooling of simple molecules down to the ultracold regime ($\lesssim$ 1 mK), and opened the opportunities to study chemical reactions with unprecedented levels…
The creation of ultracold molecules is currently limited to diatomic species. In this letter we present a theoretical description of the photoassociation of ultracold atoms and molecules to create ultracold excited triatomic molecules, thus…
Control over the quantum states of individual molecules is crucial in the quest to harness their rich internal structure and dipolar interactions for applications in quantum science. In this paper, we develop a toolbox of techniques for the…
Ultracold temperatures in dilute quantum gases opened the way to an exquisite control of matter at the quantum level. Here we focus on the control of ultracold atomic collisions using a laser to engineer their interactions at large…
We explore the feasibility of optically forming long-range tetratomic and larger polyatomic molecules in their ground electronic state from ultracold pairs of polar molecules aligned by external fields. Depending on the relative orientation…
The rich internal structure and long-range dipole-dipole interactions establish polar molecules as unique instruments for quantum-controlled applications and fundamental investigations. Their potential fully unfolds at ultracold…