Coherent optical transfer of Feshbach molecules to a lower vibrational state.
Using the technique of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) we have coherently transferred ultracold (87)Rb(2) Feshbach molecules into a more deeply bound vibrational quantum level. Our measurements indicate a high transfer efficiency of up to 87%. Because the molecules are held in an optical lattice with not more than a single molecule per lattice site, inelastic collisions between the molecules are suppressed and we observe long molecular lifetimes of about 1 s. Using STIRAP we have created quantum superpositions of the two molecular states and tested their coherence interferometrically. These results represent an important step towards Bose-Einstein condensation of molecules in the vibrational ground state.
Winkler
K
K
Institut für Experimentalphysik, Forschungszentrum für Quantenphysik, Universität Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Lang
F
F
Thalhammer
G
G
Straten
P v d
Pv
Grimm
R
R
Denschlag
J Hecker
JH