Constrained molecular dynamics(CoMD) model, previously introduced for nuclear dynamics, has been extended to the atomic structure and collision calculations. Quantum effects corresponding to the Pauli and Heisenberg principle are enforced by constraints, in a parameter-free way. Our calculations for small atomic system, H, He, Li, Be, F reproduce the ground-state binding energies within 3%, compared with the results of quantum mechanical Hartree-Fock calculations.
We present a four-mode model that describes coherent photo-association (PA) in a double-well Bose-Einstein condensate, focusing on the $average$ molecular populations in certain parameters. Our numerical results predict an interesting strong-damping effect of molecular oscillations by controlling the particle tunnellings and PA light strength, which may provide a promising way for creating a stable molecular condensate via coherent PA in a magnetic double-well potential.
When the atoms of a dimer remain most of the time very far apart, in so-called long-range molecular states, their mutual interaction is ruled by plain atomic properties. The high-resolution spectroscopic study of some molecular excited states populated by photoassociation of cold atoms (photoassociative spectroscopy) gives a good illustration of this property. It provides accurate determinations of atomic radiative lifetimes, which are known to be sensitive tests for atomic calculations. A number of such analyses has been performed up to now, for all stable alkali atoms and for some other atom…
Sources of uncertainty are reviewed for calculated atomic and molecular data that are important for plasma modeling: atomic and molecular structure and cross sections for electron-atom, electron-molecule, and heavy particle collisions. We concentrate on model uncertainties due to approximations to the fundamental many-body quantum mechanical equations and we aim to provide guidelines to estimate uncertainties as a routine part of computations of data for structure and scattering.
Multistage Zeeman deceleration is a technique used to reduce the velocity of neutral molecules with a magnetic dipole moment. Here we present a Zeeman decelerator that consists of 100 solenoids and 100 magnetic hexapoles, that is based on a short prototype design presented recently [Phys. Rev. A 95, 043415 (2017)]. The decelerator features a modular design with excellent thermal and vacuum properties, and is robustly operated at a 10 Hz repetition rate. This multistage Zeeman decelerator is particularly optimized to produce molecular beams for applications in crossed beam molecular scattering …
This editorial introduces the J. Phys. B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Special Issue "Atomic and Molecular Processes in the Ultracold Regime, the Chemical Regime and Astrophysics" dedicated to Professor Alexander Dalgarno (1928-2015). After a brief biographical review, short summaries of the contributed papers and their relations to some of Prof. Dalgarno's work are given.
We show that in the limit of large and positive atom--atom scattering length the properties of an atomic--molecular Bose--Einstein Condensate (amBEC) are determined by an universal energy density functional (EDF). We find that the optimal conditions for the formation of a stable amBEC are in the regime where there are no shallow trimers and the atom--dimer scattering length is negative and comparable in magnitude with the atom--atom scattering length. At temperatures lower than $T_c$ the chemical potentials for the atoms and molecules can be specified independently. Besides three--body recombi…
We realize a continuous guided beam of cold deuterated ammonia with a flux of 3e11 ND3 molecules/s and a continuous free-space beam of cold potassium with a flux of 1e16 K atoms/s. A novel feature of the buffer gas source used to produce these beams is cold neon, which, due to intermediate Knudsen number beam dynamics, produces a forward velocity and low-energy tail that is comparable to much colder helium-based sources. We expect this source to be trivially generalizable to a very wide range of atomic and molecular species with significant vapor pressure below 1000 K. This source has properti…
The search for variation of the fundamental constants such as the fine structure constant $α$ ($α=e^2/\hbar c$) and the ratios of fundamental masses (e.g., electron to proton mass ratio $μ=m_e/m_p$) is reviewed. Strong emphasis is given to establishing the relationships between the change in the measured frequencies of atomic, molecular or nuclear transitions and the corresponding change of the fundamental constants. Transitions in which the sensitivity of the frequency change to the variation of the fine structure constant is strongly enhanced are discussed and most recent experimental result…
We describe an inexpensive instructional experiment that demonstrates the rotational energy levels of diatomic nitrogen, using the emission band spectrum of molecular nitrogen ionized by various processes in a commercial AC capillary discharge tube. The simple setup and analytical procedure is introduced as part of a sequence of educational experiments employed by a course of advanced atomic and molecular spectroscopy, where the study of rotational spectra is combined with the analysis of vibrational characteristics for a multifaceted picture of the quantum states of diatomic molecules.
New particles can manifest their effects in many settings, ranging from effects on sub-atomic to galactic length scales. The nature of these effects depends on the specific particles and their non-gravitational interactions. In this chapter, we give a brief overview of how atomic, molecular and optical systems can be used to search for new particles. To illustrate the basic principles behind these methods, we focus on the simplest class of particles, namely new spinless bosons.
We provide a practical approach to the molecular production via linear downward sweeps of Feshbach resonances in degenerate Fermi gases containing incoherent mixtures of two atomic spin states. We show that the efficiency of the association of atoms is determined just by the Landau-Zener parameter in addition to the density of the gas. Our approach of pairwise summation of the microscopic binary transition probabilities leads to an intuitive explanation for the observed saturation of the molecular production and recovers all atomic loss curves of C.A. Regal et al. [Nature (London) 427, 47 (200…
Preparation of molecular quantum gas promises novel applications including quantum control of chemical reactions, precision measurements, quantum simulation and quantum information processing. Experimental preparation of colder and denser molecular samples, however, is frequently hindered by fast inelastic collisions that heat and deplete the population. Here we report the formation of two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of spinning $g-$wave molecules by inducing pairing interactions in an atomic condensate. The trap geometry and the low temperature of the molecules help reducing …
We propose a new laser cooling method for atomic species whose level structure makes traditional laser cooling difficult. For instance, laser cooling of hydrogen requires single-frequency vacuum-ultraviolet light, while multielectron atoms need single-frequency light at many widely separated frequencies. These restrictions can be eased by laser cooling on two-photon transitions with ultrafast pulse trains. Laser cooling of hydrogen, antihydrogen, and many other species appears feasible, and extension of the technique to molecules may be possible.
Statistical properties of Fano resonances occurring in photoabsorption to highly excited atomic or molecular states are derived. The situation with one open and one closed channel is analyzed when the classical motion of the excited complex in the closed channel is chaotic. The closed channel subspace is modeled by random matrix theory. The probability distribution of the Fano parameter is derived both for the case of time reversal symmetry (TRS) and broken time reversal symmetry. For the TRS case the area distribution under a resonance profile relevant for low resolution experiments is discus…
In attosecond streaking, an electron is released by a short xuv pulse into a strong near infrared laser field. When the laser coupling between two states in the target is weak relative to the detuning, the streaking technique, which allows for a complete determination of the driving field, also gives an accurate measurement of the relative phase of the atomic or molecular ionization matrix elements from the two states through the interference from the two channels. The interference may change the phase of the photoelectron streaking signal within the envelope of the ir field, an effect to be a…
We investigate dynamics of atomic and molecular systems exposed to intense, shaped chaotic fields and a weak femtosecond laser pulse theoretically. As a prototype example, the photoionization of a hydrogen atom is considered in detail. The net photoionization undergoes an optimal enhancement when a broadband chaotic field is added to the weak laser pulse. The enhanced ionization is analyzed using time-resolved wavepacket evolution and the population dynamics of the atomic levels. We elucidate the enhancement produced by spectrally-shaped chaotic fields of two different classes, one with a tuna…
The long-range interaction between two atoms and the long-range interaction between an ion and an electron are compared at small and large intersystem separations. The vacuum dressed atom formalism is applied and found to provide a framework for interpretation of the similarities between the two cases. The van der Waals forces or Casimir-Polder potentials are used to obtain insight into relativistic and higher multipolar terms.
The paper reviews briefly elements from our work on the solution of various field induced, time independent or time dependent many electron problems, which has been developed and carried out within state and property specific frameworks. The discussion focuses on only a few items, and is presented as a commentary with explanations. The formal details and the numerical results can be found in the cited publications.
We study the behavior of the Eisenbud-Wigner collisional time delay around Feshbach resonances in cold and ultracold atomic and molecular collisions. We carry out coupled-channels scattering calculations on ultracold Rb and Cs collisions. In the low-energy limit, the time delay is proportional to the scattering length, so exhibits a pole as a function of applied field. At high energy, it exhibits a Lorentzian peak as a function of either energy or field. For narrow resonances, the crossover between these two regimes occurs at an energy proportional to the square of the resonance strength param…
We demonstrate coherent one-color photoassociation of a Bose-Einstein condensate, which results in Rabi oscillations between atomic and molecular condensates. We attain atom-molecule Rabi frequencies that are comparable to decoherence rates by driving photoassociation of atoms in an $^{88}$Sr condensate to a weakly-bound level of the metastable $^{1}S_{0}+^{3}P_{1}$ molecular potential, which has a long lifetime and large Franck-Condon overlap integral with the ground scattering state. Transient shifts and broadenings of the excitation spectrum are clearly seen at short times, and they create …
In the centennial of Ettore Majorana's birth (1906-1938?), we re-examine some aspects of his fundamental scientific production in atomic and molecular physics, including a not well known short communication. There, Majorana critically discusses Fermi's solution of the celebrated Thomas-Fermi equation for electron screening in atoms and positive ions. We argue that some of Majorana's seminal contributions in molecular physics already prelude to the idea of exchange interactions (or Heisenberg-Majorana forces) in his later workson theoretical nuclear physics. In all his papers, he tended to emph…
This paper addresses the three following questions. (i) How the structures of group and of chain of groups enter nuclear, atomic and molecular spectroscopy? (ii) How these structures can be exploited, in a quantum- mechanical framework, in the problems of state labelling and (external) symmetry breaking? (iii) How it is possible to associate a Wigner-Racah algebra to a group or a chain of groups for making easier the calculation of quantum-mechanical matrix elements? Numerous examples illustrate the philosophy of qualitative and quantitative applications to spectroscopy.
We present an analytic model to calculate the atomic scattering length near a Feshbach resonance from data on the molecular binding energy. Our approach considers finite-range square-well potentials and can be applied near broad, narrow, or even overlapping Feshbach resonances. We test our model on Cs$_2$ Feshbach molecules. We measure the binding energy using magnetic-field modulation spectroscopy in a range where one broad and two narrow Feshbach resonances overlap. From the data we accurately determine the Cs atomic scattering length and the positions and widths of two particular resonances…
We discuss the dynamics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate when pairs of atoms are converted into molecules by single-color photoassociation. Three main regimes are found and it is shown that they can be understood on the basis of time-dependent two-body theory. In particular, the so-called rogue dissociation regime [Phys. Rev. Lett., 88, 090403 (2002)], which has a density-dependent limit on the photoassociation rate, is identified with a transient regime of the two-atom dynamics exhibiting universal properties. Finally, we illustrate how these regimes could be explored by photoassociating…
The one-electron Li-containing Coulomb systems of atomic type $(li, e)$ and molecular type $(li, li, e)$, $(li, α, e)$ and $(li, p, e)$ are studied in the presence of a strong magnetic field $B \leq 10^{7}$ a.u. in the non-relativistic framework. They are considered at the Born-Oppenheimer approximation of zero order (infinitely massive centers) within the parallel configuration (molecular axis parallel to the magnetic field). The variational and Lagrange-mesh methods are employed in complement to each other. It is demonstrated that the molecular systems ${\rm LiH}^{3+}$, ${\rm LiHe}^{4+}$ and…
High-order harmonic generation (HHG) results from strong-field laser matter interaction and it is one of the main processes that are used to extract electron structural and dynamical information about the atomic or molecular targets with sub-femtosecond temporal resolution. Moreover, it is the workhorse for the generation of attosecond pulses. Here we develop an analytical description of HHG, which extends the well established theoretical strong-field approximation (SFA). Our approach involves two innovative aspects: i) First, using a model non-local, but separable potential, we calculate the …
APLIP is a method for using a STIRAP-like three-state configuration with two laser pulses for continuous extension of a molecular bond, introduced in 1998. It is based on time-dependent light-induced potential surfaces (LIP). In VibLIP one extends the idea into a method for tailoring the vibrational state while changing the electronic state, introduced in 2000. Here I discuss the extension of both methods to situations that involve more than three electronic states, and note the possibility of using the method on adiabatic transport of atoms between microtraps or equivalent structures.
We demonstrate the implementation of a simple time-of-flight (ToF) mass spectrometer with medium-mass resolution ($m/Δm\sim50$) geared towards the demands of atomic, molecular, and chemical physics experiments. By utilizing a novel radial ion extraction scheme from a linear quadrupole trap, a device with large trap capacity and high optical access is realized without sacrificing mass resolution. Here we describe the construction and implementation of the device as well as present representative ToF spectra. We conclude by demonstrating the flexibility of the device with proof-of-principle expe…
We present an alternative, univocal characterization of the continuous transition from atomic to molecular shape in the Coulomb system constituted by two identical particles and a third particle with the opposite charge, as the mass ratio of the particles varies. Applying a marginal-conditional exact factorization to a variationally optimized wavefunction, we construct a nonadiabatic potential energy surface for the relative motion between the single particle and each of the identical particles in the ground state. The transition is revealed through the evolution with the mass ratio of the top…
The asymptotic behavior of the molecular continuum wave function has been analyzed within a model of non-overlapping atomic potentials. It is been shown that the representation of the wave function far from a molecule as a plane wave and single spherical wave emitted by the molecular center cannot be corrected. Because of the multicenter character of the problem, the asymptotic form of the wave function must contain N spherical waves with centers at the nuclei of the N atoms that form the molecule. A method of partial waves for a spherically non-symmetrical target is considered for the simples…
Collective two-color photoassociation of a freely-interacting 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate is theoretically examined, focusing on stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) from an atomic to a stable molecular condensate. In particular, Drummond et al. [Phys. Rev. A 65, 063619 (2002); cond-mat/0110578] have predicted that particle-particle interactions can limit the efficiency of collective atom-molecule STIRAP, and that optimizing the laser parameters can partially overcome this limitation. We suggest that the molecular conversion efficiency can be further improved by treating the initial c…
Data analysis of the next generation effective antineutrino mass measurement experiment KATRIN requires reliable knowledge of systematic corrections. In particular, the width of the daughter molecular ion excitation spectrum rovibrational band should be known with a better then 1% precision. Very precise ab initio quantum calculations exist, and we compare them with the well known tritium molecule parameters within the framework of a phenomenological model. The rovibrational band width with accuracy of a few percent is interpreted as a result of the zero-point atomic oscillation in the harmoni…
We present an analytic model of the refractive index for matter waves propagating through atomic or molecular gases. The model, which combines a WKB treatment of the long range attraction with the Fraunhofer model treatment of the short range repulsion, furnishes a refractive index in compelling agreement with recent experiments of Jacquey et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 240405 (2007)] on Li atom matter waves passing through dilute noble gases. We show that the diffractive contribution, which arises from scattering by a two dimensional "hard core" of the potential, is essential for obtaining a co…
Petaflop architectures are currently being utilized efficiently to perform large scale computations in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Collisions. We solve the Schroedinger or Dirac equation for the appropriate collision problem using the R-matrix or R-matrix with pseudo-states approach. We briefly outline the parallel methodology used and implemented for the current suite of Breit-Pauli and DARC codes. Various examples are shown of our theoretical results compared with those obtained from Synchrotron Radiation facilities and from Satellite observations. We also indicate future directions and im…
We derive the spatial coherence and intensity profiles of beams emerging from two consecutive collimating apertures, and compare our results with data. We show how to make a Gaussian Schell-model (GSM) beam by assuming Gaussian apertures. Then we compare the intensity profile, the transverse coherence width and the divergence angle of a GSM beam with those same properties of a beam that is collimated with two hard-edged slits. The GSM beam formulae are simpler, and offer an intuitive way to understand how partially coherent beams interact with interferometers.
We have implemented a control system for experiments in atomic, molecular and optical physics based on a commercial low-cost board, featuring a field-programmable gate array as part of a system-on-a-chip on which a Linux operating system is running. The board features Gigabit Ethernet, allowing for fast data transmission and operation of remote experimental systems. A single board can control a set of devices generating digital, analog and radio frequency signals with a precise timing given either by an external or internal clock. Contiguous output and input sampling rates of up to 40 MHz are …
We solve a model that describes a stimulated conversion between ultracold bosonic atoms and molecules. The reaction is triggered by a linearly time-dependent transition throughout the Feshbach resonance. Our solution predicts a nonexponential dependence, with a dynamic phase transition, of the reaction efficiency on the transition rate. We find that the emerging phase can have a thermalized energy distribution with the temperature defined by the rate of the transition. This phase, however, has strong purely quantum correlations.
We study a hybrid quantum system composed of an ion and an electric dipole. We show how a trapped ion can be used to measure the small electric field generated by a classical dipole. We discuss the application of this scheme to measure the electric dipole moment of cold polar molecules, whose internal state can be controlled with ultrafast laser pulses, by trapping them in the vicinity of a trapped ion.
In this paper, a hybrid quasi-static atomistic simulation method at finite temperature is developed, which combines the advantages of MD for thermal equilibrium and atomic-scale finite element method (AFEM) for efficient equilibration. Some temperature effects are embedded in static AFEM simulation by applying the virtual and equivalent thermal disturbance forces extracted from MD. Alternatively performing MD and AFEM can quickly obtain a series of thermodynamic equilibrium configurations such that a quasi-static process is modeled. Moreover, a stirring-accelerated MD/AFEM fast relaxation appr…
