Formation of ultracold molecules by merging optical tweezers [dataset]

We demonstrate the formation of a single RbCs molecule during the merging of two optical tweezers, one containing a single Rb atom and the other a single Cs atom. Both atoms are initially predominantly in the motional ground states of their respective tweezers. We confirm molecule formation and establish the state of the molecule formed by measuring its binding energy. We find that the probability of molecule formation can be controlled by tuning the confinement of the traps during the merging process, in good agreement with coupled-channel calculations. We show that the conversion efficiency from atoms to molecules using this technique is comparable to magnetoassociation.

我们展示了两台光镊（optical tweezers）合并过程中单颗铷铯（RbCs）分子的形成过程：其中一台囚禁单颗铷（Rb）原子，另一台囚禁单颗铯（Cs）原子。初始状态下，两颗原子均主要处于各自光镊的运动基态（motional ground states）。我们通过测量其结合能（binding energy），确认了分子的形成并确定了所生成分子的状态。研究发现，通过调控合并过程中光阱的囚禁参数，可有效控制分子形成概率，该结果与耦合通道（coupled-channel）计算结果吻合良好。此外，我们证实，利用该技术实现的原子到分子转化效率，可与磁缔合（magnetoassociation）技术相媲美。