Conversion of $^{40}$K-$^{87}$Rb mixtures into stable molecules

TL;DR

This paper investigates an improved method for converting potassium-40 and rubidium-87 atomic mixtures into stable molecules using STIRAP combined with Feshbach resonance, demonstrating higher efficiency and analyzing population imbalance effects.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining STIRAP and Feshbach resonance for efficient atom-to-molecule conversion, surpassing previous methods.

Findings

Higher conversion efficiency with STIRAP aided by Feshbach resonance

Population imbalance affects conversion efficiency

Theoretical analysis based on mean-field Lagrangian density

Abstract

We study the conversion of $^{40}$K and $^{87}$Rb atoms into stable molecules through the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in photoassociation assisted with Feshbach resonance. Starting with the mean-field Langrange density, we show that the atom-to-molecule conversion efficiency by STIRAP aided by Feshbach resonance is much larger than that by bare Feshbach resonance. We also study the influence of the population imbalance on the atom-to-molecule conversion.