Coherent Molecular Optics using Sodium Dimers

Abstract

Coherent molecular optics is performed using two-photon Bragg scattering. Molecules were produced by sweeping an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate through a Feshbach resonance. The spectral width of the molecular Bragg resonance corresponded to an instantaneous temperature of 20 nK, indicating that atomic coherence was transferred directly to the molecules. An autocorrelating interference technique was used to observe the quadratic spatial dependence of the phase of an expanding molecular cloud. Finally, atoms initially prepared in two momentum states were observed to cross-pair with one another, forming molecules in a third momentum state. This process is analogous to sum-frequency generation in optics.

References in corpus (15)

• Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation of Molecules
• Creation of ultracold molecules from a Fermi gas of atoms
• Bragg spectroscopy of a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Atom--Molecule Coherence in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
• Conversion of an Atomic Fermi Gas to a Long-Lived Molecular Bose Gas
• Production of Long-Lived Ultracold Li2 Molecules from a Fermi gas
• Superchemistry: dynamics of coupled atomic and molecular Bose-Einstein condensates
• The wave nature of biomolecules and fluorofullerenes
• Observation of molecules produced from a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Formation of Quantum-Degenerate Sodium Molecules
• Suppression and enhancement of impurity scattering in a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Dissociation and Decay of Ultra-cold Sodium Molecules
• Imaging the phase of an evolving Bose-Einstein condensate wavefunction
• Does matter wave amplification work for fermions?
• Atomic four-wave mixing: fermions versus bosons

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Feshbach Resonances in Ultracold Gases
• Bragg spectroscopy of a strongly interacting Fermi gas
• Formation and interactions of cold and ultracold molecules: new challenges for interdisciplinary physics
• Observation of Feshbach-like resonances in collisions between ultracold molecules
• `Stückelberg interferometry' with ultracold molecules
• High-Contrast Interference in a Thermal Cloud of Atoms
• Cross-band versus intra-band pairing in superconductors: signatures and consequences of the interplay
• Bragg diffraction of large organic molecules
• Bragg spectroscopy and Ramsey interferometry with an ultracold Fermi gas
• In situ Ramsey Interferometry and Diffraction Echo with an Ultracold Fermi Gas
• Bifurcations and bistability in cavity assisted photoassociation of Bose-Einstein condensed molecules
• Confinement controlled dissociation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate
• Optimal conversion of Bose condensed atoms into molecules via a Feshbach resonance