Pure gas of optically trapped molecules created from fermionic atoms

We report on the production of a pure sample of up to 3 x 10(5) optically trapped molecules from a Fermi gas of 6Li atoms. The dimers are formed by three-body recombination near a Feshbach resonance. For purification, a Stern-Gerlach selection technique is used that efficiently removes all trapped a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2003-12, Vol.91 (24), p.240402-240402, Article 240402
Main Authors: Jochim, S, Bartenstein, M, Altmeyer, A, Hendl, G, Chin, C, Hecker Denschlag, J, Grimm, R
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We report on the production of a pure sample of up to 3 x 10(5) optically trapped molecules from a Fermi gas of 6Li atoms. The dimers are formed by three-body recombination near a Feshbach resonance. For purification, a Stern-Gerlach selection technique is used that efficiently removes all trapped atoms from the atom-molecule mixture. The behavior of the purified molecular sample shows a striking dependence on the applied magnetic field. For very weakly bound molecules near the Feshbach resonance, the gas exhibits a remarkable stability with respect to collisional decay.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.91.240402