Cavity-controlled ultracold chemistry
Abstract
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 optical cavity with high cooperativity to selectively enhance the population of a pre-determined final state by controlling the spontaneous emission. During this process, a photon will be emitted into the cavity mode. Detection of this photon heralds a single reaction. We discuss the efficiency and the dynamics of cavity-assisted molecule formation in the frame of realistic parameters that can be achieved in current ultracold-atom setups. In particular, we consider the production of Rb molecules in the triplet ground state. Moreover, when working with more than two atoms in the cavity, collective enhancement effects in chemistry should be observable.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1803.10004,
title = {Cavity-controlled ultracold chemistry},
author = {Tobias Kampschulte and Johannes Hecker Denschlag},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1803.10004},
year = {2018}
}