OPTICAL PRODUCTION OF ULTRACOLD POLAR MOLECULES

We present recent work resulting in the production of ultracold, polar RbCs molecules in their vibronic ground state. The production process consists of several steps: photoassociation of laser-cooled atoms; radiative stabilization of the resulting molecules; identification of the resulting population distribution; and laser-stimulated state transfer to the vibrational ground state. We discuss the properties of the resulting sample of X¹Σ⁺(ν = 0) molecules, with a view to the future directions of these experiments.