Delta-Kick Collimation of Heteronuclear Feshbach Molecules

TL;DR

This paper theoretically demonstrates that delta-kick collimation can significantly reduce the expansion energies of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules, enabling advanced quantum experiments and precision measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for applying delta-kick collimation to heteronuclear molecules, showing its effectiveness across various regimes and ensuring molecular stability.

Findings

Achieves picokelvin-range expansion energies.

Decouples vibrational and translational motions during DKC.

Enables potential applications in molecular interferometry and precision tests.

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of delta-kick collimation (DKC) applied to heteronuclear Feshbach molecules, focusing on both condensed and thermal ensembles across various interaction and temperature regimes. We demonstrate that DKC enables significant reductions in molecular cloud expansion energies and beam divergence, achieving expansion energies in the picokelvin range, comparable to state-of-the-art results obtained experimentally with atoms. Furthermore, we show that vibrational and translational motions remain strongly decoupled throughout the process, ensuring molecular stability during the delta-kick. This work paves the way for advanced experimental sequences involving degenerate ground state molecules, light-pulse molecular interferometry, and applications of dual-species precision measurements, such as testing the universality of free fall.