Cold Beam of ${}^7$Li${}^4$He Dimers

Abstract

We demonstrate an approach for producing a high flux beam of ${}^7$Li${}^4$He dimers by performing post-nozzle seeding of a lithium beam into a supersonic helium expansion. The molecular beam has a longitudinal temperature of 13(6) mK and a continuous flux on the order of $10^{11}$ dimers/s. Monte Carlo simulations of molecular formation based on ab-initio quantum scattering calculations are carried out and compared to the experimentally observed molecular flux. Extensions of this work could lead towards a more quantitative understanding of few-body collision processes of alkali and helium atoms.

Added a figure of the experimental apparatus, longitudinal fluorescence results, and simulation results including exchange collisions with helium dimers