Intercombination line photoassociation spectroscopy of ${}^{87}$Rb${}^{170}$Yb

TL;DR

This paper reports the first observation of intercombination line photoassociation in a Rb-Yb mixture, characterizing resonances and demonstrating a new spectroscopic method to study and potentially produce RbYb molecules in the ground state.

Contribution

It introduces the first detection of intercombination line photoassociation in Rb-Yb, providing detailed characterization and demonstrating a novel spectroscopic technique for molecule formation.

Findings

Detected interspecies PA resonances around 3.1 GHz

Extracted PA rates, binding energies, Zeeman shifts

Improved measurements of ground state binding energies

Abstract

We report on the first observation of photoassociation near the ${}^2 S _\frac 1 2 + {}^3P_1$-asymptote in a mixture of ${}^{87}$Rb and ${}^{170}$Yb. In a search spanning binding energies between 0.1 GHz and 11 GHz, a single pair of interspecies PA resonances is detected around 3.1 GHz. These resonances are characterized by extracting PA rates, binding energies and Zeeman shift coefficients. Using one of these resonances, 2-photon-photoassociaton is performed, improving on previous measurements of the binding energies of the two least bound states in the electronic ground state and demonstrating intercombination line photoassociation as a powerful spectroscopic tool. We discuss implications for pathways towards RbYb molecules in the absolute ground state.