Photoassociation spectroscopy of purely long-range helium molecules |
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spent my 2002-2003 sabbatical year in the metastable-helium group
headed by C. Cohen-Tannoudji and M. Leduc in the Laboratoire Kastler
Brossel of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris.
Bose-Einstein condensation with metastable helium had already been
demonstrated by then, and the group was beginning to shine
near-resonant laser light into their trapped sample in an effort to
excite bound molecular states of helium. When this attempt at
"photoassociation" (PA) of ultracold helium atoms gave its first clear
signs of success in the form of resonant trap loss, and the group found
itself with a twofold aim: experimental characterization of the
PA spectrum and theoretical modeling of the newly observed molecular
resonances. A delightfully energetic graduate student named
Jérémie Léonard (now at Université de Strasbourg) undertook both
aspects of the work as his Ph.D. thesis project. It was my
privilege to be part of his supporting cast, and to work with many
other students, senior researchers, visiting scientists, and
collaborators at ENS. The details of our investigations can be found in
the references listed below. --M. Walhout |
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Part of M.W.'s travel expenses were covered by the National Science Foundation (Grant NSF-PHYS-0140135). |
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M. Walhout, J. Léonard, M. Leduc, "Exotic helium dimers: A giant comes J. Léonard, A. P. Mosk, M. Walhout, M. Leduc, M. van Rijnbach, D. Nehari J. Kim, U.D. Rapol, S. Moal, J. Léonard, M. Walhout, M. Leduc, "Photoassociation experiments with ultracold metastable helium," European Physical Journal D 31, 227-237 (November 2004). M. Leduc, J. Léonard, M. Walhout, "Des dimères géants avec des atomes J. Léonard, A.P. Mosk, M. Walhout, P. van der Straten, M. Leduc, and C. Cohen-Tannoudji, "Analysis of photoassociation spectra for giant helium dimers", Physical Review A, 69, 032702, 2004. M. Leduc, M. Portier, J. Léonard, M. Walhout, F. Masnou-Seeuws, K. Willner, A. Mosk, "Photoassociation spectroscopy of ultracold metastable helium atoms: numerical analysis," in Laser Spectroscopy 16, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Laser Spectroscopy, Eds P.Hannaford, H.A. Bachor, K.G.Baldwin, A.I.Sidorov, (World Scientific, Palm Cove, Australia, July 2003). J. Léonard, M. Walhout, A.P. Mosk, T. Mueller, M. Leduc, and C. Cohen-Tannoudji, "Giant Helium Dimers Produced by Photoassociation of Ultracold Metastable Atoms," Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 073203 (15 August, 2003).
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