Femtochemistry techniques have been instrumental in accessing the short time scales necessary to probe transient intermediates in chemical reactions. In this study, we took the contrasting approach of prolonging the lifetime of an intermediate by preparing reactant molecules in their lowest rovibronic quantum state at ultralow temperatures, thereby markedly reducing the number of exit channels accessible upon their mutual collision. Using ionization spectroscopy and velocity-map imaging of a trapped gas of potassium-rubidium (KRb) molecules at a temperature of 500 nanokelvin, we directly observed reactants, intermediates, and products of the reaction 40K87Rb + 40K87Rb → K2Rb2* → K2 + Rb2. Beyond observation of a long-lived, energy-rich intermediate complex, this technique opens the door to further studies of quantum-state–resolved reaction dynamics in the ultracold regime.
We demonstrate full quantum state control of two species of single atoms using optical tweezers and assemble the atoms into a molecule. Our demonstration includes 3D ground-state cooling of a single atom (Cs) in an optical tweezer, transport by several microns with minimal heating, and merging with a single Na atom. Subsequently, both atoms occupy the simultaneous motional ground state with 61(4)% probability. This realizes a sample of exactly two co-trapped atoms near the phase-space-density limit of one, and allows for efficient stimulated-Raman transfer of a pair of atoms into a molecular bound state of the triplet electronic ground potential a 3 Σ + . The results are key steps toward coherent creation of single ultracold molecules, for future exploration of quantum simulation and quantum information processing.
The underlying mechanism of the stationary light pulse (SLP) was identified as a band gap being created by a Bragg grating formed by two counter-propagating coupling fields of similar wavelength. Here we present a more general view of the formation of SLPs, namely several balanced four-wave mixing processes sharing the same ground-state coherence. Utilizing this new concept we report the first experimental observation of a bichromatic SLP at wavelengths for which no Bragg grating can be established. We also demonstrate the production of a SLP directly from a propagating light pulse without prior storage. Being easily controlled externally makes SLPs a very versatile tool for low-light-level nonlinear optics and quantum information manipulation.
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