2003/10/31 by K. Xu, T. Mukaiyama, J. R. Abo-Shaeer +3
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.91.210402
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 210402 (2003) · 5 pages, 4 figures (final published version)
arxiv created 2003/12/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Ultra-cold sodium molecules were produced from an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate by ramping an applied magnetic field across a Feshbach resonance. More than 105 molecules were generated with a conversion efficiency of ∼4%. Using laser light resonant with an atomic transition, the remaining atoms could be selectively removed, preventing fast collisional relaxation of the molecules. Time-of-flight analysis of the pure molecular sample yielded an instantaneous phase-space density greater than 20.