Molecules of Fermionic Atoms in an Optical Lattice

TL;DR

This paper reports on creating molecules from fermionic atoms in an optical lattice, demonstrating precise measurement of binding energies, and showing how molecule formation can be used for lattice occupancy detection and thermometry.

Contribution

It introduces a method to form molecules from fermionic atoms in an optical lattice and uses this process for occupancy measurement and thermometry.

Findings

Measured binding energies match theoretical predictions

Molecule formation indicates lattice occupancy

Method enables thermometry in optical lattices

Abstract

We create molecules from fermionic atoms in a three-dimensional optical lattice using a Feshbach resonance. In the limit of low tunnelling, the individual wells can be regarded as independent three-dimensional harmonic oscillators. The measured binding energies for varying scattering length agree excellently with the theoretical prediction for two interacting atoms in a harmonic oscillator. We demonstrate that the formation of molecules can be used to measure the occupancy of the lattice and perform thermometry.