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We have developed an approach to continuously load ultracold $^{85}{\mathrm{Rb}}_{2}$ vibrational ground-state molecules into a crossed optical dipole trap from a magneto-optical trap. The technique relies on a single high-power light beam with a broad spectrum superimposed onto a narrow peak at an energy of about $9400\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. This single laser source performs all the required steps: the short-range photoassociation creating ground-state molecules after radiative emission, the cooling of the molecular vibrational population down to the lowest vibrational level ${v}_{X}=0$, and the optical trapping of these molecules. Furthermore, we probe by depletion spectroscopy and determine that 75% of the ${v}_{X}=0$ ground-state molecules are in the three lowest rotational levels ${J}_{X}=0$, 1, 2. The lifetime of the ultracold molecules in the optical dipole trap is limited to about 70 ms by off-resonant light scattering. The proposed technique opens perspectives for the formation of new molecular species in the ultracold domain, which are not yet accessible by well-established approaches.

The influence of a high-power single-frequency fiber laser on the formation of ultracold 85Rb2 molecules is investigated as a function of its frequency (in the 1062–1070 nm range) in a magneto-optical trap. We find evidence for the formation of ground-state 85Rb2 molecules in low vibrational levels () with a maximal rate of 104 s−1, induced by short-range photoassociation by the fiber laser followed by spontaneous emission. When this laser is used to set up a dipole trap, we measure an atomic loss rate at a wavelength far from the PA resonances, only four times smaller than that observed at a PA resonance wavelength. This work may have important consequences for atom trapping using lasers around the conventional 1064 nm wavelength.

Quantum gases became an important cross-disciplinary tool in contemporary physics. Here we present the development of new methods to produce and control engineered arbitrary optical potentials to create dynamical quantum simulators of condensed matter systems.

This paper describes the use of nanomanipulation for deforming, picking up and positioning nano-objects in situ in a field emission scanning electron microscope using an in-house built manipulator. Our experiments demonstrate that physical manipulation can be used in a wide range of different experiments and systems. The scope of possibilities is quite large, from mounting nanodevices to fabricating AFM tips based on CNTs in addition to measuring mechanical and electrical properties of individual nanosystems. Nanomanipulation has a large application potential in physics, chemistry, biology and engineering, rendering possible the idealised bottom-up approach to nanotechnology.