Spinor atom-molecule conversion via laser-induced three-body recombination
Abstract
We study theoretically several aspects of the dynamics of coherent atom-molecule conversion in spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. Specifically, we discuss how for a suitable dark-state condition the interplay of spin-exchange collisions and photoassociation leads to the stable creation of an atom- molecule pairs from three initial spin-zero atoms. This process involves two two-body interactions and can be intuitively viewed as an effective three-body recombination. We investigate the relative roles of photoassociation and of the initial magnetization in the " case where the dark state condition is perfectly satisfied. We also consider the "non-resonant" regime, where that condition is satisfied either approximately the so-called adiabatic case or not at all. In the adiabatic case, we derive an effective non-rigid pendulum model that allows one to conveniently discuss the onset of an antiferromagnetic instability of an -molecule pendulum," as well as large-amplitude pair oscillations and atom-molecule entanglement.