Optical Autler–Townes spectroscopy in a heteronuclear mixture of laser-cooled atoms

Abstract

We report on optical Autler–Townes spectroscopy in a heteronuclear mixture of \( {}^{87} \)Rb and \( {}^{176} \)Yb in a continuously loaded double-species magneto-optical trap. An excited vibrational level of Rb*Yb which is energetically close to the \( {5}^2{\mathrm{P}}_{1/2} \) state of Rb is coupled by a strong laser field to a vibrational level in the ground state of RbYb and probed by a weak probe laser field. The induced Autler–Townes splittings in the photoassociation spectra allow us to determine relative Franck–Condon factors of molecular transitions in RbYb.