Society of Physics Students Symposium

Deprecated: (sps) mysql_connect(): The mysql extension is deprecated and will be removed in the future: use mysqli or PDO instead in /afs/athena.mit.edu/activity/s/sps/web_scripts/posters/header.inc.php on line 12

Investigation of ultracold 6Li and 23Na molecule gases

Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

Lau, Gregory Kang Ruey

We present investigations on ultracold molecule creation from 6Li and 23Na, including fermionic dipolar NaLi molecules. A quantum gas of such dipolar molecules can be used for exploring many-body physics as well as quantum information processing. We first prepare a cold, dense mixture of 6Li and 23Na atoms in an optical dipole trap. Molecules are then formed by ramping an external magnetic field across a Feshbach resonance. Isolation of the molecules are achieved via Stern-Gerlach methods. We report on the creation and isolation Na2 and Li2 molecules, and have evidence of dipolar NaLi molecule formation. Further work is being done on the isolation of NaLi molecules.