Quantum mechanics

Algorithm

Ground state

Materials science

Computer security

Trap (plumbing)

Modulation (music)

Atomic physics

Excitation

Molecule

Computer science

Collision

Acoustics

Ultracold atom

Physics

Optics

Quantum

Meteorology

Intensity (physics)

Physical Review Letters

We show that the lifetime of ultracold ground-state ^{87}Rb^{133}Cs molecules in an optical trap is limited by fast optical excitation of long-lived two-body collision complexes. We partially suppress this loss mechanism by applying square-wave modulation to the trap intensity, such that the molecules spend 75% of each modulation cycle in the dark. By varying the modulation frequency, we show that the lifetime of the collision complex is 0.53±0.06 ms in the dark. We find that the rate of optical excitation of the collision complex is 3_{-2}^{+4}×10^{3} W^{-1} cm^{2} s^{-1} for λ=1550 nm, leading to a lifetime of <100 ns for typical trap intensities. These results explain the two-body loss observed in experiments on nonreactive bialkali molecules.

Loss of Ultracold <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi>Rb</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts /><mml:none /><mml:mrow><mml:mn>87</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi>Cs</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts /><mml:none /><mml:mrow><mml:mn>133</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:mrow></mml:math> Molecules via Optical Excitation of Long-Lived Two-Body Collision …

Loss of Ultracold Rb87Cs133 Molecules via Optical Excitation of Long-Lived Two-Body Collision …