Formation rate of RbCs molecules via electro-association

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new theoretical model for describing the formation of ultracold heteronuclear RbCs molecules in excited rovibrational states of the electronic ground state X1Σ+ from combination of ultracold Rb and Cs atoms. A new scheme of association assisted by an electric field, that we call electro-association (EA), is proposed. Temperature dependent formation rates of molecules were found equal to: KEA≈10-12cm3/s at T≈0.1 mK, which can be compared to other formation rates of some heteronuclear bi-alkali molecules. This model presents a different technique to create cold molecules with efficiency comparable to the photo-association (PA) technique, which requires optical pulses.