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ReportsQuantum Gas of Deeply Bound Ground State MoleculesMolecular cooling techniques face the hurdle of dissipating translational as well as internal energy in the presence of a rich electronic, vibrational, and rotational energy spectrum. In our experiment, we create a translationally ultracold, dense quantum gas of molecules bound by more than 1000 wave numbers in the electronic ground state. Specifically, we stimulate with 80% efficiency, a two-photon transfer of molecules associated on a Feshbach resonance from a Bose-Einstein condensate of cesium atoms. In the process, the initial loose, long-range electrostatic bond of the Feshbach molecule is coherently transformed into a tight chemical bond. We demonstrate coherence of the transfer in a Ramsey-type experiment and show that the molecular sample is not heated during the transfer. Our results show that the preparation of a quantum gas of molecules in specific rovibrational states is possible and that the creation of a Bose-Einstein condensate of molecules in their rovibronic ground state is within reach.
1 Institut für Experimental physik und Zentrum für Quantenphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstraße 25, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: johann.danzl{at}uibk.ac.at
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)
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