Molecule-molecule and atom-molecule collisions with ultracold RbCs molecules

Understanding ultracold collisions involving molecules is of fundamental importance for current experiments, where inelastic collisions typically limit the lifetime of molecular ensembles in optical traps. Here we present a broad study of optically trapped ultracold RbCs molecules in collisions with one another, in reactive collisions with Rb atoms, and in nonreactive collisions with Cs atoms. For experiments with RbCs alone, we show that by modulating the intensity of the optical trap, such that the molecules spend 75\% of each modulation cycle in the dark, we partially suppress collisional loss of the molecules. This is evidence for optical excitation of molecule pairs mediated via sticky collisions. We find that the suppression is less effective for molecules not prepared in the spin-stretched hyperfine ground state. This may be due either to longer lifetimes for complexes or to laser-free decay pathways. For atom-molecule mixtures, RbCs+Rb and RbCs+Cs, we demonstrate that the rate of collisional loss of molecules scales linearly with the density of atoms. This indicates that, in both cases, the loss of molecules is rate-limited by two-body atom-molecule processes. For both mixtures, we measure loss rates that are below the thermally averaged universal limit.

Steady state of overdamped particles in the non-conservative force field of a simple non-linear model of optical trap

Optically trapped particles are often subject to a non-conservative scattering force arising from radiation pressure. In this paper, we present an exact solution for the steady state statistics of an overdamped Brownian particle subjected to a commonly used force field model for an optical trap. The model is the simplest of its kind that takes into account non-conservative forces. In particular, we present the exact results for certain marginals of the full three-dimensional steady state probability distribution, in addition to results for the toroidal probability currents that are present in the steady state, as well as for the circulation of these currents. Our analytical results are confirmed by numerical solution of the steady state Fokker–Planck equation.