title: Coherent transients in the femtosecond photoassociation of ultracold molecules.
abstract: We demonstrate the photoassociation of ultracold rubidium dimers using coherent femtosecond pulses. Starting from a cloud of ultracold rubidium atoms, electronically excited rubidium molecules are formed with shaped photoassociation pump pulses. The excited state molecules are projected with a time-delayed probe pulse onto molecular ion states which are detected in a mass spectrometer. Coherent transient oscillations of the excited state population are observed in the wings of the pump pulse, in agreement with the time-dependent solution of the Schrödinger equation of the excitation process.
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Salzmann
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mullins
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eng
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wester
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weidemüller
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Merli
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plewicki
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Weise
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wöste
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lindinger