Production and Trapping of Ultracold Polar Molecules

Recently we have demonstrated the production of a sample of ultracold, polar RbCs molecules in their absolute vibronic ground state. The sample has a translational temperature of ~100 $\mu$K and a narrow distribution of rotational states. The molecules are initially formed from laser-cooled $^{85}$Rb and $^{133}$Cs atoms via photoassociation, resulting in short-lived, vibronically excited RbCs molecules. A fraction of these excited molecules subsequently spontaneously decay to ground electronic states, populating many excited vibrational levels. We then transfer the population of one of these levels, a$^3\Sigma^+$ (v = 37), to the absolute vibronic ground state via a pump-dump scheme. We discuss progress toward observing strong, anisotropic collisions between these molecules through trapping them using a quasi-electrostatic trap (QUEST). We will also discuss our progress in implementing a Stimulated Adiabatic Raman Passage scheme to improve the transfer process to the vibronic ground state.