  We analyze the formation of Rb_2 molecules with short photoassociation pulses
applied to a cold Rb-85 sample. A pump laser pulse couples a continuum level of
the ground electronic state X ^1\Sigma_{g}^+ with bound levels in the 0_{u}^+
(5S+5P_{1/2}) and 0_{u}^+ (5S+5P_{3/2}) vibrational series. The nonadiabatic
coupling between the two excited channels induces time-dependent beatings in
the populations. We propose to take advantage of these oscillations to design
further laser pulses that probe the photoassociation process via
photoionization or that optimize the stabilization in deep levels of the ground
state.
