A High Phase-Space Density Gas of NaCs Feshbach Molecules (2202.03355v3)

Abstract: We report on the creation of ultracold gases of bosonic Feshbach molecules of NaCs. The molecules are associated from overlapping gases of Na and Cs using a Feshbach resonance at 864.12(5) G. We characterize the Feshbach resonance using bound state spectroscopy, in conjunction with a coupled-channel calculation. By varying the temperature and atom numbers of the initial atomic mixtures, we demonstrate the association of NaCs gases over a wide dynamic range of molecule numbers and temperatures, reaching 70 nK for our coldest systems and a phase-space density near 0.1. This is an important stepping-stone for the creation of degenerate gases of strongly dipolar NaCs molecules in their absolute ground state.