Efficient creation of molecules from a cesium Bose-Einstein condensate

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new magnetic field switching method to efficiently produce Cs$_2$ molecules from a Bose-Einstein condensate, achieving over 30% conversion efficiency and revealing complex scattering processes.

Contribution

A novel magnetic field switching scheme significantly improves molecule creation efficiency from a BEC, surpassing conventional methods.

Findings

Over 30% atom-molecule conversion efficiency achieved

Molecules created in a single g-wave rotational state

Complex scattering processes observed near Feshbach resonance

Abstract

We report a new scheme to create weakly bound Cs$_2$ molecules from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The method is based on switching the magnetic field to a narrow Feshbach resonance and yields a high atom-molecule conversion efficiency of more than 30%, a factor of three higher than obtained with conventional magnetic-field ramps. The Cs$_2$ molecules are created in a single $g$-wave rotational quantum state. The observed dependence of the conversion efficiency on the magnetic field and atom density shows scattering processes beyond two-body coupling to occur in the vicinity of the Feshbach resonance.