Cold molecules formation by shaping with light the short-range interaction between cold atoms: photoassociation with strong laser pulses

TL;DR

This paper explores how strong laser pulses can be used to control the formation of cold molecules from cold atoms by manipulating short-range interactions and light-induced potentials, leading to more efficient molecule formation.

Contribution

It introduces a model analyzing the effects of strong laser coupling on cold molecule formation, highlighting new mechanisms for accelerating population transfer and forming strongly bound molecules.

Findings

Enhanced population transfer to the inner zone of the ground state

Formation of cold molecules in strongly bound ground state levels

Momentum distribution retains signatures of initial continuum wavefunction

Abstract

The paper investigates cold molecules formation in the photoassociation of two cold atoms by a strong laser pulse applied at short interatomic distances, which lead to a molecular dynamics taking place in the light-induced (adiabatic) potentials. A two electronic states model in the cesium dimer is used to analyse the effects of this strong coupling regime and to show specific results: i) acceleration of the ground state population to the inner zone due to a non-impulsive regime of coupling at short and intermediate interatomic distances; ii) formation of cold molecules in strongly bound levels of the ground state, where the population at the end of the pulse is much bigger than the population photoassociated in bound levels of the excited state; iii) the final momentum distribution of the ground state wavepacket keeping the signatures of the maxima in the initial wavefunction continuum. It is shown that the topology of the light-induced potentials plays an important role in dynamics.