Trapping Rb atoms and dimmers in a broadband optical dipole trap

Several experiments involving cold homonuclear and heteronuclear molecules rely on the photoassociation of trapped atoms. In order to obtain a large molecular sample, it is necessary to start from a dense atomic sample. In our experiment, we are trapping cold Rb atoms and Rb$_{2}$ molecules in a crossed broadband optical dipole trap. Our crossed beam configuration uses 25 W (at 1064 n, bandwidth of 2 nm) in each in each of the beams with about 50 micron waist radius of the focus and a depth of about 760 $\mu $K. Our results suggest that photoassociation of the trapped atoms due to 1064 nm laser is taking place. We have also developed a technique using a train of laser pulses to observe the time evolution of Rb$_{2}$ molecules. This train of laser pulses photoionize the Rb$_{2}$ molecules trough resonant two-photon ionization. Such technique is implemented in such way that allows us to continuously observe the molecular sample. Therefore, it allows a faster data acquisition.