Lifetime of vibrational levels from Fourier grid calculations: RbCs example.

We present systematic calculations of the lifetimes of vibrational levels of excited Rb(5s)Cs(6p(1/2)) 0(+) electronic states. We show that a precise description of the variation with the internuclear distance of the transition dipole moment between electronic states is essential. It is also crucial to account precisely for the spin-orbit coupling between the Rb(5s)Cs(6p) A (1)Σ(+) and b (3)Π states. We describe the general trends of the probability of formation of stable molecules in the Rb(5s)Cs(6s) X (1)Σ(+) and a (3)Σ(+) electronic states, through radiative decay from the 0(+)v' levels, together with the branching ratios for the obtention of singlet or triplet molecules, stable with respect to dissociation. Furthermore, this analysis allows us to demonstrate the efficiency of the Mapped Fourier Grid Hamiltonian Representation method (MFGHR) to determine rigorously the energy variation, throughout the continuous part of the spectrum, of the density of an observable connecting bound vibrational levels and continuum states. The resolution in energy can be adapted to the studied problem through a judicious choice of the grid parameters.

Photoassociative spectroscopy as a self-sufficient tool for the determination of the Cs triplet scattering length

In photoassociation spectroscopy, the line intensities of a given vibrational progression exhibit zero-signal modulation reflecting the node structure of the s-wave ground state wave function of two free colliding atoms. This leads to the determination of the scattering length. We performed photoassociation of cold Cs atoms polarized in the Zeeman sublevel f = 4, m(f) = 4. We analyzed the intensities of the lines associated with the Cs2 0(-)(g) state dissociating to the 6s(1/2)+6p(3/2) asymptote. This yields a value of the Cs triplet state scattering length, a(T) = -530a(0), while consistency requirements impose a value of the multipole ground state molecular coefficient, C6 = 6510 a.u.

Experimental evidence for collision-induced superradiance.

An experiment performed on barium atoms has permitted us to observe an infrared emission whose spectral and temporal analysis has led us to identify it with collision-induced superradiance. Tentative theoretical interpretation is given in the dressed-atom formalism using the monochromatic approximation.

Oscillations in superradiance with long-duration pumping pulses.

We describe an experimental study of a new regime of superradiance characterized by relaxation oscillations, which is obtained in the case of long-duration pumping pulses. A qualitative interpretation of our results is given using the mean-field approximation in conjunction with broadband excitation. A more quantitative interpretation is also given, in which propagation effects are explicitely taken into account and the excitation is purely monochromatic.