photoassociate

photo- +‎ associate

photoassociate (third-person singular simple present photoassociates, present participle photoassociating, simple past and past participle photoassociated)

1. (physics) To associate atoms by means of photoassociation
   • 173003 (2015), J. L. Carini, S. Kallush, R. Kosloff, P. L. Gould, “Enhancement of Ultracold Molecule Formation Using Shaped Nanosecond Frequency Chirps”, in Phys. Rev. Lett.‎, volume 173003:

     Starting with ultracold ${\displaystyle ^{87}}$Rb atoms, we apply pulses of frequency-chirped light to first photoassociate the atoms into excited molecules and then, later in the chirp, de-excite these molecules into a high vibrational level of the lowest triplet state, ${\displaystyle a\,^{3}\Sigma _{u}^{+}}$.