Atom-molecule coherence in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Recent advances in the precise control of ultracold atomic systems have led to the realisation of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and degenerate Fermi gases. An important challenge is to extend this level of control to more complicated molecular systems. One route for producing ultracold molecules is to form them from the atoms in a BEC. For example, a two-photon stimulated Raman transition in a Rb-87 BEC has been used to produce Rb-87(2) molecules in a single rotational-vibrational state(1), and ultracold molecules have also been formed(2) through photo-association of a sodium BEC. Although the coherence properties of such systems have not hitherto been probed, the prospect of creating a superposition of atomic and molecular condensates has initiated much theoretical work(3-7). Here we make use of a time-varying magnetic field near a Feshbach resonance(8-12) to produce coherent coupling between atoms and molecules in a Rb-85 BEC. A mixture of atomic and molecular states is created and probed by sudden changes in the magnetic field, which lead to oscillations in the number of atoms that remain in the condensate. The oscillation frequency, measured over a large range of magnetic fields, is in excellent agreement with the theoretical molecular binding energy, indicating that we have created a quantum superposition of atoms and diatomic molecules-two chemically different species.