Long-lived Feshbach molecules in a 3D optical lattice

Klaus Winkler

University of Innsbruck, Experimentalphysik, Technikerstrasse 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

We have investigated production and lifetime of Rb2 Feshbach molecules in an optical lattice. Compared to previous experiments without lattice we find dramatic improvements. We observe long molecular lifetimes of up to 700ms and near unit conversion efficiency of atom pairs into molecules (and vice versa) when ramping slowly across the Feshbach resonance. We also have developed a purification scheme based on a combination of both a radio-frequency and an optical transition which removes residual atoms from the lattice. Purification results in a pure molecular sample where individual lattice sites are either empty or occupied by a single molecule.

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