Coherent Chemistry without Light: Atom-Molecule Oscillations Induced by a Static Magnetic Field

Abstract: When two atoms scatter off one another, they temporarily populate molecular bound states. Usually this happens with rather low probability but this process can be resonantly enhanced by applying a static magnetic field. We experimentally study this process with an unusual boundary condition, namely in an optical lattice where each lattice site is occupied by exactly two atoms which in some sense permanently scatter off each other. Here, the application of the magnetic field leads to sinusoidal oscillations between the atomic and the molecular state during which a molecule fraction of almost 100% is reached.