Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 62: Cold Molecules III
Q 62.2: Talk
Friday, March 16, 2012, 11:00–11:15, V38.03
Non-local state-swapping of polar molecules in bilayers — •A. Pikovski1, M. Klawunn2, A. Recati2, and L. Santos1 — 1Institut f. Theoretische Physik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Appelstr. 2, 30169, Hannover, Germany — 2INO-CNR BEC Center and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Trento, 38123 Povo, Italy
The observation of significant dipolar effects in gases of ultra-cold polar molecules typically demands a strong external electric field to polarize the molecules. We show that even in the absence of a strong polarization, dipolar effects may play a crucial role in the physics of polar molecules in bilayers, provided that the molecules in each layer are initially prepared in a different rotational state. Collisions due to dipolar interactions result in an exchange of the rotational state between molecules in different layers, even for weak applied electric fields. This swapping rate has a non-trivial dependence on density, temperature, inter-layer spacing, and population imbalance. For reactive molecules such as KRb, chemical recombination immediately follows a non-local swap and dominates the losses even for temperatures well above quantum degeneracy, and hence could be observed under current experimental conditions. [ arXiv:1108.5642 ]