Coherent photoassociation of a quantum degenerate gas

Author

Prodan, Ionela ; Junker, Maximilian ; Hulet

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys. & Astron., Rice Univ., Houston, TX, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

19-24 May 2002

Firstpage

100

Lastpage

101

Abstract

Summary form only given. Coherence is predicted to be absent for the case of a non-degenerate thermal gas. Little has been said, however, about the photoassociation of the thermal component of a quantum degenerate gas. In the present work, we have proven that, under favorable experimental conditions, it is possible to establish three-level coherence in two-photon association for this later case. An ultracold (T - 280 nK) sample of about 10/sup 5/ spin-polarized /sup 7/Li atoms was probed with a pulse consisting of two co-propagating laser beams.

Keywords

Bose-Einstein condensation; association; laser cooling; lithium; radiation pressure; resonant states; two-photon processes; /sup 7/Li; 280 nK; Bose-Einstein condensation; co-propagating laser beams; coherence; collisional state; frequency difference; nondegenerate thermal gas; photoassociation rate; quantum degenerate gas; spin-polarized /sup 7/Li atoms; three-level coherence; two-photon association; ultracold sample; Lithium;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference, 2002. QELS '02. Technical Digest. Summaries of Papers Presented at the

Conference_Location

Long Beach, CA, USA

Print_ISBN

1-55752-708-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/QELS.2002.1031160

Filename

1031160