[en] In the last two decades the atomic physics community acquired a great capability of controlling the atomic motion. Since the proposal of Hansch and Schawlow to utilise the radiation pressure to optically cool atoms, much effort has been done to develop laser cooling techniques. The first experiments were unidimensional, with one or more lasers used to cool the longitudinal velocity distribution of an atomic beam. In 1985 a three-dimensional configuration made by mutually orthogonal laser beams tuned to the red side of the atomic resonance was used by Chu et al. to produce optical molasses. The density of cold atoms collected in this way is quite low and the cold atomic sample is easily destroyed by any interaction. This problem is overcome in a trap where atoms are simultaneously cooled and trapped by a combination of laser beams and magnetic fields. The first magneto-optical trap (MOT) loaded from an atomic beam was reported by Raab et al. while an important step was achieved by loading a trap directly in a vapor cell. In a vapor cell MOT atoms are captured from the low-velocity tail of the Maxwellian distribution so heavy atoms can be efficiently trapped in this way, while light atoms are more likely captured from atomic beams witt precooling techniques

[en] Two methods employing photoassociation to efficiently form translationally ultracold rubidium molecules in the ground triplet and singlet states are presented. The detection process of cold Rb₂ dimers through multiphoton ionization is described and analysed. Finally a preliminary experiment for trapping cold Rb₂ molecules is reported

[en] We present a short review of energy pooling experiments in laser excited alkali vapors, for low atom density and low radiation intensity. Special emphasis is devoted to the most recent results obtained in sodium vapor

[en] We report an investigation of collisional processes in Ca vapour in the presence of noble gases under ¹S_o→¹P₁ laser excitation. We observe the process of energy transfer to the triplet ³P_J (J=1, 3) states and the process of energy pooling to many higher energy states. The combination of these processes makes it possible, by changing pressure and kind of noble gas, to 'drive' the population distribution of the upper states. (Author)

[en] By using IR laser photoionization in a magneto-optical trap, radiative lifetimes of rubidium Rydberg nd states (n = 16-20) have been measured. The measured lifetimes are: 4.63 μs for the 16d state, 5.39 μs (17d), 6.74 μs (18d), 8.06 μs (19d) and 8.99 μs (20d). The experimental values are in agreement with previous theoretical calculations. The reported method allows also for a measurement of the photoionization cross-sections of the specified Rydberg states at 10.6 μm. In this case the experimental values (ranging from 39 Mb for the 16d state to 30 Mb for the 20d state) look inconsistent with theoretical calculations

[en] We show two color spectroscopic measurements that we have done on cold rubidium atoms confined in a magneto-optic trap. The measurements have been done on both Rb isotopes by exciting the 8s_1/2, 5d_3/2, and 5d_5/2 states from the trapping 5p_3/2 level. The obtained lineshapes show the presence of the Autler-Townes splitting induced by the strong trapping laser. The hyperfine constants of the 5d levels have been derived

[en] The results of an experiment on the associative ionization collision between sodium and cesium excited atoms are reported. The atoms are excited by two resonant cw lasers to the 3P_3/2 and 6P_3/2 levels, respectively, and the formation of the NaCs⁺ molecular ion is observed. The rate constant of such process has been measured relative to the known rate constant of sodium associative ionization and its value resulted in K=(5.4±3.2)x10^-11 cm³ s^-1

[en] The rate constants of the energy-pooling collisions in the Na-Rb and K-Rb vapor mixtures, resonantly excited by two cw dye lasers, have been measured relative to a known energy-pooling rate constant of a homonuclear reaction. To isolate the heteronuclear contribution in the fluorescence spectrum, a double-modulation technique has been adopted. The effective lifetimes of the excited levels that explicitly appear in the solution equation have been directly measured by using pulsed lasers. A discussion about the collision cross-section dependence on the energy defect involved in the energy-pooling collisions is reported

[en] Progress on research in the field of molecules at cold and ultracold temperatures is reported in this review. It covers extensively the experimental methods to produce, detect and characterize cold and ultracold molecules including association of ultracold atoms, deceleration by external fields and kinematic cooling. Confinement of molecules in different kinds of traps is also discussed. The basic theoretical issues related to the knowledge of the molecular structure, the atom-molecule and molecule-molecule mutual interactions, and to their possible manipulation and control with external fields, are reviewed. A short discussion on the broad area of applications completes the review.

[en] We perform a comparative study of the formation of ultracold rubidium dimers in their ground state with both ⁸⁵Rb and ⁸⁷Rb isotopes. Ultracold rubidium molecules are created through photoassociation of ultracold atoms into rovibrational levels of the 0⁺_u(5S_1/2 + 5P_1/2) excited state, which interact through resonant coupling (Dion et al 2001 Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 2253) with rovibrational levels of the 0⁺_u(5S_1/2 + 5P_3/2) excited state. The photoassociated levels decay by spontaneous emission down to rovibrational levels of the X¹Σ⁺_g ground state. The resonant coupling is expected to enhance the formation of ultracold molecules in low-lying ground-state levels. By modelling the ionization spectrum of these ultracold molecules, we show that this coupling is larger for ⁸⁷Rb₂ molecules than for ⁸⁵Rb₂ molecules