Abstract
We have obtained spectra of the high-lying vibrational levels of the state of via photoassociation of ultracold atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap. The state of the diatomic molecule correlates to a 2 state atom plus a 2 state atom. The long-range part of the molecular interaction potential for this state depends on the 2P atomic radiative lifetime. By calculating the energy eigenvalues of a model potential for the state and fitting them to the experimentally measured vibrational levels, we have extracted a value for the 2P lifetime of 26.99±0.16 ns. The precision is currently limited by the accuracy of a region of the model potential provided by ab initio calculations.
- Received 1 August 1994
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.51.R871
©1995 American Physical Society