Optical Production of Ultracold Polar Molecules

We demonstrate the production of ultracold polar RbCs molecules in their vibronic ground state, via photoassociation of laser-cooled atoms followed by a laser-stimulated state transfer process. The resulting sample of X1Sigma+ (nu = 0) molecules has a translational temperature of approximately 100 microK and a narrow distribution of rotational states. With the method described here it should be possible to produce samples even colder in all degrees of freedom, as well as other bialkali species.