Michał Tomza

Optimal production of ground-state ultracold molecules

Michał Tomza, UW
Supervisor: prof. Robert Moszyński (UW)

We have discussed the production of ultracold molecules in their electronic ground state by photoassociation employing electronically excited states with ion-pair character and strong spin-orbit interaction. A short photoassociation laser pulse drives a non-resonant three-photon transition for alkali atoms colliding in their lowest triplet state. The excited state wave packet is transferred to the ground electronic state by a second laser pulse, driving a resonant two-photon transition. The transition matrix elements governing the stabilization step are compared to the efficiency of population transfer using transform-limited and linearly chirped laser pulses. Finally, we have employed optimal control theory to find the most efficient stabilization pathways.

Chairman: prof. Paweł Krysiński

Discussion