Fig. 2

Production and detection of ultracold molecules. First, ultracold atoms in a dual-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) were photoassociated into a weakly bound state. The molecules were transferred to the target internal state by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) and irradiated with a microwave pulse. State selective detection of the molecules was achieved by ionizing the molecules with a pulsed laser and detecting them with a microchannel plate (MCP)