Continuous Production of Rovibronic Ground State RbCs Molecules via Short-Range Photoassociation to the $b^3{\Pi }_1-c^3{\Sigma }_1^{+}-B^1{\Pi }_1$ States

Abstract

We have investigated rovibronic levels of the strongly mixed $b^3{\Pi }_1-c^3{\Sigma }_1^{+}-B^1{\Pi }_1$ states [the 2(1), 3(1), and 4(1) states in Hund's case (c) notation] of ${}^{85}$Rb${}^{133}$Cs in the energy range of 13950$-$14200 cm${}^{-1}$ using short-range photoassociation (PA). For selected PA states, vibrational and rotational branching in the $X^1{\Sigma }^{+}$ state have been investigated using resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization and depletion spectroscopy. Efficient production of ${}^{85}$Rb${}^{133}$Cs molecules in the rovibronic ground state $X^1{\Sigma }^{+}(v=0,J=0)$, at up to $\sim$1$\times 10^4$ molecules/s, has been achieved.