Rate limit for photoassociation of a Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

We simulate numerically the photodissociation of molecules into noncondensate atom pairs that accompanies photoassociation of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate into a molecular condensate. Such rogue photodissociation sets a limit on the achievable rate of photoassociation. Given the atom density ρand mass m, the limit is approximately 6\hbarρ^{2/3}/m. At low temperatures this is a more stringent restriction than the unitary limit of scattering theory.

5 pgs, 18 refs., 3 figs., submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett