Observation of molecules produced from a Bose-Einstein condensate

Stephan Dürr, Thomas Volz, Andreas Marte, Gerhard Rempe

Published 2003-07-17, updated 2004-01-20Version 3

Molecules are created from a Bose-Einstein condensate of atomic 87Rb using a Feshbach resonance. A Stern-Gerlach field is applied, in order to spatially separate the molecules from the remaining atoms. For detection, the molecules are converted back into atoms, again using the Feshbach resonance. The measured position of the molecules yields their magnetic moment. This quantity strongly depends on the magnetic field, thus revealing an avoided crossing of two bound states at a field value slightly below the Feshbach resonance. This avoided crossing is exploited to trap the molecules in one dimension.