Photoassociative spectroscopy of the long-range state

Abstract:

The photoassociative spectroscopy of the Cs₂ 0 g ^- long-range molecular state dissociating into the asymptote is performed, using cold cesium atoms in a vapor-cell magneto-optical trap (MOT). Vibrational levels from v =0 to v =132 are identified, and their rotational structure is well resolved up J =8 for levels below v =74. These data are analyzed in terms of the Rydberg-Klein-Rees (RKR) procedure, and correspond to 99.6% of an effective potential curve with a minimum at Å and a cm^-1 depth. Both ab initio calculations and simple model estimations predict a double-well structure for this potential curve, which cannot be reproduced presently by the RKR approach but which is confirmed by the presence of giant structures in the spectrum. The 1_u()long-range state is also observed for the first time in Cs₂.