1 August 2006

Photo: AG Sengstock

Using RF association up to 10⁴ heteronuclear molecules in a 3D optical lattice near the Feshbach resonance at 546 G were produced. In a deep lattice lifetimes over 100ms could be realized depending on the interaction strength. Furthermore, we could observe also molecules on the attractive side of the Feshbach resonance which are not stable outside a trapping potential as well as repulsively bound atom pairs. Heteronuclear molecules in their internal ground state open up spectacular possibilities of fundamental experiments concerning for example a permanent electric dipole moment. Phys.Rev.Lett. 97, 120403 (2006)