BLUE-DETUNED PHOTOASSOCIATION SPECTRUM IN Rb$_2$
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Date
2011
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Ohio State University
Abstract
We report on the observation of blue-detuned photoassociation as proposed in [1] and references therein. "Blue-detuned" refers to the location of vibrational levels --- energetically above the corresponding atomic asymptote. Ultracold $^{85}$Rb atoms in a MOT were photoassociated to levels of the $1\,^3\Pi_g$ state a few hundred wavenumbers above the $5S+5P_{3/2}$ limit. These transitions were found to be strong even though they occur at short internuclear separations ($R_e$=$10\,a_0$). Levels of the $1\,^3\Pi_g$ state spontaneously decay to the $a\,^3\Sigma_u^+$ state, where they are detected by resonantly enhanced multiphoton ionization with time-of-flight spectroscopy. We have observed most vibrational levels of the $1\,^3\Pi_g$ state belonging to all of its spin-orbit components ($0_g^+,0_g^-,1_g,2_g$). Recent unpublished \emph{ab-initio} calculations [2] of these potentials show good agreement with the observed vibrational and rotational constants. \\ [1] M.-L. Almazor \emph{et. al.}, \emph{Eur. Phys. J. D} \textbf{15} 355 (2001) [2] O. Dulieu, private communication
Description
This work is supported by the NSF, AFOSR, and UConn Research Foundation.
Author Institution: Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269
Author Institution: Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269