Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps
Understanding collisions between ultracold molecules is crucial for making stable molecular quantum gases and harnessing their rich internal degrees of freedom for quantum engineering. Transient complexes can strongly influence collisional physics, but in the ultracold regime, key aspects of their b...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
American Physical Society
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Physical Review Research |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033013 |
| _version_ | 1827285715204964352 |
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| author | Roman Bause Andreas Schindewolf Renhao Tao Marcel Duda Xing-Yan Chen Goulven Quéméner Tijs Karman Arthur Christianen Immanuel Bloch Xin-Yu Luo |
| author_facet | Roman Bause Andreas Schindewolf Renhao Tao Marcel Duda Xing-Yan Chen Goulven Quéméner Tijs Karman Arthur Christianen Immanuel Bloch Xin-Yu Luo |
| author_sort | Roman Bause |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding collisions between ultracold molecules is crucial for making stable molecular quantum gases and harnessing their rich internal degrees of freedom for quantum engineering. Transient complexes can strongly influence collisional physics, but in the ultracold regime, key aspects of their behavior have remained unknown. To explain experimentally observed loss of ground-state molecules from optical dipole traps, it was recently proposed that molecular complexes can be lost due to photoexcitation. By trapping molecules in a repulsive box potential using laser light near a narrow molecular transition, we are able to test this hypothesis with light intensities three orders of magnitude lower than what is typical in red-detuned dipole traps. This allows us to investigate light-induced collisional loss in a gas of nonreactive fermionic ^{23}Na^{40}K molecules. Even for the lowest intensities available in our experiment, our results are consistent with universal loss, meaning unit loss probability inside the short-range interaction potential. Our findings disagree by at least two orders of magnitude with latest theoretical predictions, showing that crucial aspects of molecular collisions are not yet understood and provide a benchmark for the development of new theories. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:19:24Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-625f07e359f1443e8703d2ce79ac07f8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2643-1564 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:19:24Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-625f07e359f1443e8703d2ce79ac07f82024-04-12T17:11:23ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review Research2643-15642021-07-013303301310.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033013Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole trapsRoman BauseAndreas SchindewolfRenhao TaoMarcel DudaXing-Yan ChenGoulven QuéménerTijs KarmanArthur ChristianenImmanuel BlochXin-Yu LuoUnderstanding collisions between ultracold molecules is crucial for making stable molecular quantum gases and harnessing their rich internal degrees of freedom for quantum engineering. Transient complexes can strongly influence collisional physics, but in the ultracold regime, key aspects of their behavior have remained unknown. To explain experimentally observed loss of ground-state molecules from optical dipole traps, it was recently proposed that molecular complexes can be lost due to photoexcitation. By trapping molecules in a repulsive box potential using laser light near a narrow molecular transition, we are able to test this hypothesis with light intensities three orders of magnitude lower than what is typical in red-detuned dipole traps. This allows us to investigate light-induced collisional loss in a gas of nonreactive fermionic ^{23}Na^{40}K molecules. Even for the lowest intensities available in our experiment, our results are consistent with universal loss, meaning unit loss probability inside the short-range interaction potential. Our findings disagree by at least two orders of magnitude with latest theoretical predictions, showing that crucial aspects of molecular collisions are not yet understood and provide a benchmark for the development of new theories.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033013 |
| spellingShingle | Roman Bause Andreas Schindewolf Renhao Tao Marcel Duda Xing-Yan Chen Goulven Quéméner Tijs Karman Arthur Christianen Immanuel Bloch Xin-Yu Luo Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps Physical Review Research |
| title | Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps |
| title_full | Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps |
| title_fullStr | Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps |
| title_full_unstemmed | Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps |
| title_short | Collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps |
| title_sort | collisions of ultracold molecules in bright and dark optical dipole traps |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.3.033013 |
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