University
of Toronto
Physics Department
Quantum Optics and Condensed Matter
MONDAY SEMINAR
University
of Toronto
MONDAY SEMINAR
| Speaker : | Professor Daniel J. Heinzen
Department of Physics University of Texas Austin, Texas |
| Topic : | Molecules in a Bose-Einstein Condensate |
| Time : | Monday, December 6, 1999 at 12:00 p.m. |
| Place : | Room 408, Burton Tower 60 St. George Street / 255 Huron Street |
Abstract
Recently, several groups including ours have produced a dilute gas Bose-Einstein
condensate. Dilute gas Bose condensates are similar in many respects to other quantum collective systems such as lasers or superfluid helium, but there are important differences as well. One important difference is that atoms in a dilute gas can combine into molecules. We have studied the coherent conversion of Bose-condensed 87Rb atoms
into 87Rb2 molecules. The conversion is accomplished
through stimulated Raman free to bound transitions induced by two laser
fields. We observe extremely narrow transition lineshapes, and find that
these lineshapes are shifted and broadened by interactions between the
molecules and the atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. We also argue that it
should be possible to reversibly convert an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate
into a molecular condensate through this mechanism.
Local Host: Aephraim
Steinberg 
(416-978-0713)