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Pure Gas of Optically Trapped Molecules Created from Fermionic Atoms

S. Jochim·M. Bartenstein·A. Altmeyer·G. Hendl·C. Chin·J. Hecker Denschlag·R. Grimm
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Abstract

We report on the production of a pure sample of up to 3x10^5 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.

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S. Jochim, M. Bartenstein, A. Altmeyer, G. Hendl, C. Chin, J. Hecker Denschlag, R. Grimm. 2003-08-05. Pure Gas of Optically Trapped Molecules Created from Fermionic Atoms. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.91.240402

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