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Formation of Ultracold Molecules by Merging Optical Tweezers

Ruttley, D K; Guttridge, A; Spence, S; Bird, R C; Le Sueur, C R; Hutson, J M; Cornish, S L

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Authors

Daniel Ruttley daniel.k.ruttley@durham.ac.uk
Post Doctoral Research Associate

Profile image of Stefan Spence

Stefan Spence s.j.spence@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

Robert Bird robert.c.bird@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy



Abstract

We demonstrate the formation of a single RbCs molecule during the merging of two optical tweezers, one containing a single Rb atom and the other a single Cs atom. Both atoms are initially predominantly in the motional ground states of their respective tweezers. We confirm molecule formation and establish the state of the molecule formed by measuring its binding energy. We find that the probability of molecule formation can be controlled by tuning the confinement of the traps during the merging process, in good agreement with coupled-channel calculations. We show that the conversion efficiency from atoms to molecules using this technique is comparable to magnetoassociation.

Citation

Ruttley, D. K., Guttridge, A., Spence, S., Bird, R. C., Le Sueur, C. R., Hutson, J. M., & Cornish, S. L. (2023). Formation of Ultracold Molecules by Merging Optical Tweezers. Physical Review Letters, 130(22), https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.130.223401

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 25, 2023
Online Publication Date May 31, 2023
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date Feb 13, 2023
Publicly Available Date Jun 14, 2023
Journal Physical Review Letters
Print ISSN 0031-9007
Electronic ISSN 1079-7114
Publisher American Physical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 130
Issue 22
DOI https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.130.223401
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1180740

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.






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