Molecule Formation in Optical Lattice Wells by Resonantly Modulated Magnetic Fields

TL;DR

This paper introduces a theoretical model for coherently forming molecules in optical lattice wells using resonantly modulated magnetic fields near a Feshbach resonance, enabling controlled and efficient molecule production.

Contribution

It presents a novel method of molecule formation via resonant magnetic field modulation, providing tunable Rabi coupling and demonstrating effective molecule production beyond adiabatic methods.

Findings

Perfect Rabi oscillations achieved in simulations

Robust molecule production with adiabatic frequency sweep

Fast association possible even with large oscillation amplitudes

Abstract

We present a theoretical model for formation of molecules in an optical lattice well where a resonant coupling of atomic and molecular states is provided by small oscillations of a magnetic field in the vicinity of a Feshbach resonance. As opposed to an adiabatic sweep over the full resonance, this provides a coherent coupling with a frequency that can be tuned to meet resonance conditions in the system. The effective Rabi frequencies for this coupling are calculated and simulations show perfect Rabi oscillations. Robust production of molecules with an adiabatic sweep of the modulation frequency is demonstrated. For very large oscillation amplitudes, the Rabi oscillations are distorted but still effective and fast association is possible.