Coherent Molecular Optics using Sodium Dimers

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates coherent molecular optics with sodium dimers by transferring atomic coherence to molecules via Feshbach resonance, observing phase dependence, and molecule formation through atom pairing, advancing quantum control of molecular states.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method for coherent molecular optics using two-photon Bragg scattering and Feshbach resonance to produce and manipulate sodium dimers.

Findings

Spectral width indicates 20 nK temperature

Quadratic phase dependence observed in molecular cloud

Atoms in different momentum states form molecules in a third state

Abstract

Coherent molecular optics is performed using two-photon Bragg scattering. Molecules were produced by sweeping an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate through a Feshbach resonance. The spectral width of the molecular Bragg resonance corresponded to an instantaneous temperature of 20 nK, indicating that atomic coherence was transferred directly to the molecules. An autocorrelating interference technique was used to observe the quadratic spatial dependence of the phase of an expanding molecular cloud. Finally, atoms initially prepared in two momentum states were observed to cross-pair with one another, forming molecules in a third momentum state. This process is analogous to sum-frequency generation in optics.