  We report on the direct conversion of laser-cooled 41K and 87Rb atoms into
ultracold 41K87Rb molecules in the rovibrational ground state via
photoassociation followed by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage.
High-resolution spectroscopy based on the coherent transfer revealed the
hyperfine structure of weakly bound molecules in an unexplored region. Our
results show that a rovibrationally pure sample of ultracold ground-state
molecules is achieved via the all-optical association of laser-cooled atoms,
opening possibilities to coherently manipulate a wide variety of molecules.

Atomic Physics