Pair Correlations and Photoassociation Dynamics of Two Atoms in an Optical Tweezer

Abstract

We investigate the photoassociation dynamics of exactly two laser-cooled ${}^{85}$Rb atoms in an optical tweezer and reveal fundamentally different behavior to photoassociation in many-atom ensembles. We observe non-exponential decay in our two-atom experiment that cannot be described by a single rate coefficient and find its origin in our system's pair correlation. This is in stark contrast to many-atom photoassociation dynamics, which are governed by exponential decay with a single rate coefficient. We also investigate photoassociation in a three-atom system, thereby probing the transition from two-atom dynamics to many-atom dynamics. Our experiments reveal additional reaction dynamics that are only accessible through the control of single atoms and suggest photoassociation could measure pair correlations in few-atom systems. It further showcases our complete control over the quantum state of individual atoms and molecules, which provides information unobtainable from many-atom experiments.

arXiv commentmain text: 5 pages, 4 figures supplemental: 5 pages, 7 figures

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Stereodynamic control of cold rotationally inelastic CO + HD collisions
• Individual assembly of two-species Rydberg molecules using optical tweezers
• Precise, super-resolving intensity measurement by quantum jump spectroscopy of a single neutral atom
• Microsecond-scale high-survival and number-resolved detection of ytterbium atom arrays
• Quantifying Light-assisted Collisions in Optical Tweezers Across the Hyperfine Spectrum
• Expansion of strongly interacting dipolar bosons in 1D optical lattices
• Probing the interaction energy of two ${}^{85}$Rb atoms in an optical tweezer via spin-motion coupling
• Tunnel-coupled optical microtraps for ultracold atoms
• An approximation scheme and non-Hermitian re-normalization for description of atom-field system evolution
• Optimization of the Femtosecond Laser Impulse for Excitation and the Spin-Orbit Mediated Dissociation in the NaRb Dimer