title: Pure gas of optically trapped molecules created from fermionic atoms.
abstract: We report on the production of a pure sample of up to 3 x 10(5) optically trapped molecules from a Fermi gas of 6Li atoms. The dimers are formed by three-body recombination near a Feshbach resonance. For purification, a Stern-Gerlach selection technique is used that efficiently removes all trapped atoms from the atom-molecule mixture. The behavior of the purified molecular sample shows a striking dependence on the applied magnetic field. For very weakly bound molecules near the Feshbach resonance, the gas exhibits a remarkable stability with respect to collisional decay.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jochim
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bartenstein
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Altmeyer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hendl
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hecker Denschlag
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grimm