Spontaneous dissociation of 85Rb Feshbach molecules -: art. no. 020401

The spontaneous dissociation of Rb-85 dimers in the highest lying vibrational level has been observed in the vicinity of the Feshbach resonance that was used to produce them. The molecular lifetime shows a strong dependence on magnetic field, varying by 3 orders of magnitude between 155.5 G and 162.2 G. Our measurements are in good agreement with theoretical predictions in which molecular dissociation is driven by inelastic spin relaxation. Molecule lifetimes of tens of milliseconds can be achieved within approximately a 1 G wide region directly above the Feshbach resonance.