Delta-kick collimation of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules

We present a theoretical study of delta-kick collimation (DKC) applied to heteronuclear Feshbach molecules, focusing on both condensed and thermal ensembles across various interaction and temperature regimes. We demonstrate that DKC enables significant reductions in molecular cloud expansion energies and beam divergence, achieving expansion energies in the picokelvin range, comparable to state-of-the-art results obtained experimentally with atoms. Furthermore, we show that vibrational and translational motions remain strongly decoupled throughout the process, and that the vibrational energy remains well below the molecular binding energy, thereby ensuring molecular stability during the delta kick. This work paves the way for advanced experimental sequences involving degenerate ground-state molecules, light-pulse molecular interferometry, and applications of dual-species precision measurements, such as testing the universality of free fall.

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Publication Details

Journal
Physical Review Research
Published
2025-10-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/858b-f2k9
Primary Topic
Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Delta-kick collimation of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules

Jose D'Incao, Ernst M. Rasel, Jim Williams, Naceur Gaaloul et al.
Physical Review Research
Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
article

Delta-kick collimation of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules

Jose D'Incao, Ernst M. Rasel, Jim Williams, Naceur Gaaloul, Éric Charron, Torben Schulze, Timothé Estrampes
article en

Abstract

We present a theoretical study of delta-kick collimation (DKC) applied to heteronuclear Feshbach molecules, focusing on both condensed and thermal ensembles across various interaction and temperature regimes. We demonstrate that DKC enables significant reductions in molecular cloud expansion energies and beam divergence, achieving expansion energies in the picokelvin range, comparable to state-of-the-art results obtained experimentally with atoms. Furthermore, we show that vibrational and translational motions remain strongly decoupled throughout the process, and that the vibrational energy remains well below the molecular binding energy, thereby ensuring molecular stability during the delta kick. This work paves the way for advanced experimental sequences involving degenerate ground-state molecules, light-pulse molecular interferometry, and applications of dual-species precision measurements, such as testing the universality of free fall.

Physical Review ResearchVol. 7(4)
Leibniz University Hannover (DE), California Institute of Technology (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (US), University of Colorado Boulder (US), University of Colorado System (US), University of Massachusetts Boston (US), Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay (FR)
Openalex Percentile: Top 78%
Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
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Delta-kick collimation of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules — Jose D'Incao, Ernst M. Rasel, et al. · Physical Review Research (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS