Photoassociation of ultracold LiRb* molecules: observation of high efficiency and unitarity-limited rate saturation

Abstract

We report the production of ultracold heteronuclear 7Li85Rb molecules in excited electronic states by photoassociation (PA) of ultracold 7Li and 85Rb atoms. PA is performed in a dual-species 7Li-85Rb magneto-optical trap (MOT) and the PA resonances are detected using trap loss spectroscopy. We identify several strong PA resonances below the Li (2s 2S1/2) + Rb (5p 2P3/2) asymptote and experimentally determine the long range C6 dispersion coefficients. We find a molecule formation rate (P_LiRb) of 3.5x10^7 s^-1 and a PA rate coefficient (K_PA) of 1.3x10^-10 cm^3/s, the highest among heteronuclear bi-alkali molecules. At large PA laser intensity, we observe the saturation of the PA rate coefficient (K_PA) close to the theoretical value at the unitarity limit.

7 pages

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• A High Phase-Space-Density Gas of Polar Molecules
• Ultracold Fermionic Feshbach Molecules of ${}^{23}$Na${}^{40}$K
• Rovibrational cooling of molecules by optical pumping
• Formation of ultracold LiRb molecules by photoassociation near the Li (2s 2S1/2) + Rb (5p 2P1/2) asymptote

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