Coherent Population Trapping in a Feshbach-Resonant Cesium Condensate

TL;DR

This paper investigates how population trapping facilitates molecule formation in Feshbach-resonant cesium Bose-Einstein condensates through a model of coherent conversion among atomic, molecular, and dissociated atom pairs.

Contribution

It introduces a model explaining population trapping as the key mechanism behind molecule formation in cesium condensates during magnetic field switch experiments.

Findings

Population trapping is identified as the key mechanism for molecule formation.

The model explains the sudden switch and hold time effects observed experimentally.

Coherent conversion dynamics are crucial for understanding molecule production.

Abstract

Recent experiments with Feshbach-resonant cesium Bose-Einstein condensates have led to unexplained molecule formation: a sudden switch of the magnetic field to its resonance value, followed by a finite hold time and another sudden switch to magnetic field values below threshold, converts about a third of the initial condensate atoms into molecules. Based on a model of coherent conversion between an atomic condensate, a molecular condensate, and magnetodissociated noncondensate atom pairs of equal and opposite momentum, we find that population trapping is strongly implicated as the physical mechanism responsible for molecule formation in switch experiments.