We have recently demonstrated that optical pumping methods combined with photoassociation of ultra-cold atoms can produce ultra-cold and dense samples of molecules in their absolute rovibronic ground state. More generally, both the external and inter
nal degrees of freedom can be cooled by addressing selected rovibrational levels on demand. Here, we recall the basic concepts and main steps of our experiments, including the excitation schemes and detection techniques we use to achieve the rovibrational cooling of Cs2 molecules. In addition, we present the determination of formation pathways and a theoretical analysis explaining the experimental observations. These simulations improves the spectroscopic knowledge required to transfer molecules to any desired rovibrational level.
Evanescent matter-waves produced by an atom wave packet incident onto a repulsive barrier edge can be back-refracted and reconstructed by the application of negative-index comoving potential pulses. One shows that those collapses and revivals of evan
escent matter waves give rise to surface matter waves and should be observable via atom reflection echoes issued from the barrier interface. This property, together with the property of inducing negative refraction, makes such potentials the matter-wave counterpart of negative-index materials in light optics.
We consider the extension of optical meta-materials to matter waves. We show that the generic property of pulsed comoving magnetic fields allows us to fashion the wave-number dependence of the atomic phase shift. It can be used to produce a transient
negative group velocity of an atomic wave packet, which results into a negative refraction of the matter wave. Application to slow metastable argon atoms Ar*(3P2) shows that the device is able to operate either as an efficient beam splitter or an atomic meta-lens. Implications of meta-media in atom optics are considered.
