High Intensity 2-Photon Photoassociation Spectroscopy of Strontium

We perform high intensity, 2-photon photoassociation spectroscopy near the 461 nm $^1$S$_0$-$^1$P$_1$ transition of strontium to determine the binding energy of the least bound level in the ground state atomic potential. Previous work by our group has constrained the value of the s-wave scattering length in both $^{86}$Sr and $^{88}$Sr. This work provides a more precise value of the s-wave scattering lengths using the newly-determined binding energy, thus informing efforts to attain quantum degeneracy in strontium.