Making molecules from laser-cooled atoms

We report on recent methods to produce translationally cold molecules starting from laser-cooled atoms. This overcomes the limitation of laser cooling tecniques, that cannot be easily applied to molecules. In particular we report on the observation of translationally cold Rb-2 groundstate molecules produced in a magneto-optical trap for rubidium atoms. Cold dimers, formed either after spontaneous decay of photoassociated molecules or by three-body recombination, are detected after pulsed-laser photoionization into Rb-2(+) ions. Isotopic differences in cold molecules production are discussed. The cold molecules detection allows photoassociation spectroscopy to be performed. Photoassociation spectra of the O-g(-) rubidium attractive molecular state below the 5S(1/2) + 5P(3/2) dissociation limit are reported.