Photoassociative production of ultracold heteronuclear YbLi* molecules

TL;DR

This paper reports the creation and spectroscopic analysis of ultracold heteronuclear YbLi* molecules via photoassociation in a dual-species magneto-optical trap, including experimental observations and theoretical calculations.

Contribution

It presents the first observation of photoassociated ultracold YbLi* molecules and combines experimental spectroscopy with ab-initio theoretical analysis.

Findings

Identified 4 rovibrational states near dissociation

Observed isotope-dependent PA line shifts

Provided ab-initio potential calculations for YbLi* molecules

Abstract

We report on the production of ultracold heteronuclear YbLi* molecules in a dual-species magneto-optical trap by photoassociation (PA). The formation of the electronically excited molecules close to dissociation was observed by trap loss spectroscopy. We find 4 rovibrational states within a range of $250\,$GHz below the Yb($^1S_0$) + Li($^2P_{1/2}$) asymptote and observe isotopic PA line shifts in mixtures of $^6$Li with $^{174}$Yb, $^{172}$Yb, and $^{176}$Yb. We also describe our theoretical ab-initio calculation for the relevant electronic potentials and utilize it to analyze and identify the lines in the experimentally observed spectrum.