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arXiv · 1104.3123

Trapping molecular ions formed via photo-associative ionization of ultracold atoms

Scott T. Sullivan·Wade G. Rellergert·Svetlana Kotochigova·Kuang Chen·Steven J. Schowalter·Eric R. Hudson
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Abstract

The formation of $^{40}$Ca$_2^+$ molecular ions is observed in a hybrid $^{40}$Ca magneto-optical and ion trap system. The molecular ion formation process is determined to be two-photon photo-associative ionization of ultracold $^{40}$Ca atoms. A lower bound for the two-body, two-photon rate constant is found to be $\bar{\beta} \geq 2 \pm 1 \times 10^{-15}$ cm$^{3}$ Hz. $\textit{Ab initio}$ molecular potential curves are calculated for the neutral Ca$_2$ and ionic Ca$_2^+$ molecules and used in a model that identifies the photo-associative ionization pathway. As this technique does not require a separate photo-association laser, it could find use as a simple, robust method for producing ultracold, state-selected molecular ions.

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Scott T. Sullivan, Wade G. Rellergert, Svetlana Kotochigova, Kuang Chen, Steven J. Schowalter, Eric R. Hudson. 2011-04-15. Trapping molecular ions formed via photo-associative ionization of ultracold atoms. https://doi.org/10.1039/c1cp21205b

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