title: Formation of quantum-degenerate sodium molecules.
abstract: Ultracold sodium molecules were produced from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate by ramping an applied magnetic field across a Feshbach resonance. More than 10(5) molecules were generated with a conversion efficiency of approximately 4%. Using laser light resonant with an atomic transition, the remaining atoms could be selectively removed, preventing fast collisional relaxation of the molecules. Time-of-flight analysis of the pure molecular sample yielded an instantaneous phase-space density greater than 20.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mukaiyama
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Abo-Shaeer
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ketterle