Cavity enhanced formation of ultracold molecules: polaritonic ultracold chemistry

The experimental demonstration of strong coupling between cavity photons and vibrational states in organic molecules heralds the possibility of controlling chemical reactions with cavity vacuum fields. Photoassociation is an established technique for bound molecules in collision between atomic pairs. In this work we consider a rubidium dimer (Rb2) strongly coupled to a cavity. We show that at the avoided crossings (Rabi splitting) between the vibrational excitation and vaccum photon absorption, polaritonic states between the molecule and photons form, which can significantly enhance the Franck-Condon factors of Rb2 from the excited potential energy surface to the ground-state manifold. This work paves the way for the control of photoassociation of ultracold molecules with strong light-matter interaction.