Grid methods for cold molecules: Determination of photoassociation line shapes and rate constants

Abstract

A description of photoassociation by cw laser is formulated in the framework of grid methods. The Hamiltonian describing one or several bound states coupled to a multiple of continuum manifolds via a radiative field is written in the energy representation and diagonalized. The generality of the treatment allows us to compute accurately and efficiently physical properties such as nonlinear high-intensity energy shifts, line shapes, and photoassociation rates both for isolated and nonisolated resonances. Application is given to sodium photoassociation in the experimental conditions of McKenzie et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 090403 (2002)]. Inverted regions for the dependency of the rate vs the intensity and nonsymmetric line shapes are predicted to occur above the saturation limit. Comparison with the model of Bohn and Julienne [Phys. Rev. A 60, 414 (1999)] is discussed.