Abstract

Photoassociation spectroscopy, the creation of excited, bound molecular states from free atoms by the addition of a photon, has recently been combined with laser cooling and trapping techniques to obtain high-resolution spectra of alkali dinners.^1,2 We demonstrate a number of two-color spectroscopy techniques where the first step is the photoassociation of laser-cooled and trapped sodium atoms to form bound states of Na₂.

© 1997 Optical Society of America