No Arabic abstract
We investigate magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances in ultracold collisions between ground-state Yb and Cs atoms, using coupled-channel calculations based on an interaction potential recently determined from photoassociation spectroscopy. We predict resonance positions and widths for all stable isotopes of Yb, together with resonance decay parameters where appropriate. The resonance patterns are richer and more complicated for fermionic Yb than for spin-zero isotopes, because there are additional level splittings and couplings due to scalar and tensorial Yb hyperfine interactions. We examine collisions involving Cs atoms in a variety of hyperfine states, and identify resonances that appear most promising for experimental observation and for magnetoassociation to form ultracold CsYb molecules.
Controlling physical systems and their dynamics on the level of individual quanta propels both fundamental science and quantum technologies. Trapped atomic and molecular systems, neutral and charged, are at the forefront of quantum science. Their extraordinary level of control is evidenced by numerous applications in quantum information processing and quantum metrology. Studying the long-range interactions between these systems when combined in a hybrid atom-ion trap has lead to landmark results. Reaching the ultracold regime, however, where quantum mechanics dominates the interaction, e.g., giving access to controllable scattering resonances, has been elusive so far. Here we demonstrate Feshbach resonances between ions and atoms, using magnetically tunable interactions between $^{138}$Ba$^{+}$ ions and $^{6}$Li atoms. We tune the experimental parameters to probe different interaction processes - first, enhancing three-body reactions and the related losses to identify the resonances, then making two-body interactions dominant to investigate the ions sympathetic cooling in the ultracold atomic bath. Our results provide deeper insights into atom-ion interactions, giving access to complex many-body systems and applications in experimental quantum simulation.
We prepare mixtures of ultracold CaF molecules and Rb atoms in a magnetic trap and study their inelastic collisions. When the atoms are prepared in the spin-stretched state and the molecules in the spin-stretched component of the first rotationally excited state, they collide inelastically with a rate coefficient of $k_2 = (6.6 pm 1.5) times 10^{-11}$ cm$^{3}$/s at temperatures near 100~$mu$K. We attribute this to rotation-changing collisions. When the molecules are in the ground rotational state we see no inelastic loss and set an upper bound on the spin relaxation rate coefficient of $k_2 < 5.8 times 10^{-12}$ cm$^{3}$/s with 95% confidence. We compare these measurements to the results of a single-channel loss model based on quantum defect theory. The comparison suggests a short-range loss parameter close to unity for rotationally excited molecules, but below 0.04 for molecules in the rotational ground state.
We consider the possibilities for producing ultracold mixtures of K and Cs and forming KCs molecules by magnetoassociation. We carry out coupled-channel calculations of the interspecies scattering length for $^{39}$KCs, $^{41}$KCs and $^{40}$KCs and characterize Feshbach resonances due to s-wave and d-wave bound states, with widths ranging from below 1 nG to 5 G. We also calculate the corresponding bound-state energies as a function of magnetic field. We give a general discussion of the combinations of intraspecies and interspecies scattering lengths needed to form low-temperature atomic mixtures and condensates and identify promising strategies for cooling and molecule formation for all three isotopic combinations of K and Cs.
We study the use of an optical Feshbach resonance to modify the p-wave interaction between ultracold polarized Yb-171 spin-1/2 fermions. A laser exciting two colliding atoms to the 1S_0 + 3P_1 channel can be detuned near a purely-long-range excited molecular bound state. Such an exotic molecule has an inner turning point far from the chemical binding region and thus three-body-recombination in the Feshbach resonance will be highly suppressed in contrast to that typically seen in a ground state p-wave magnetic Feshbach resonance. We calculate the excited molecular bound-state spectrum using a multichannel integration of the Schr{o}dinger equation, including an external perturbation by a magnetic field. From the multichannel wave functions, we calculate the Feshbach resonance properties, including the modification of the elastic p-wave scattering volume and inelastic spontaneous scattering rate. The use of magnetic fields and selection rules for polarized light yields a highly controllable system. We apply this control to propose a toy model for three-color superfluidity in an optical lattice for spin-polarized Yb-171, where the three colors correspond to the three spatial orbitals of the first excited p-band. We calculate the conditions under which tunneling and on-site interactions are comparable, at which point quantum critical behavior is possible.
We observe magnetically tuned collision resonances for ultracold Cs2 molecules stored in a CO2-laser trap. By magnetically levitating the molecules against gravity, we precisely measure their magnetic moment. We find an avoided level crossing which allows us to transfer the molecules into another state. In the new state, two Feshbach-like collision resonances show up as strong inelastic loss features. We interpret these resonances as being induced by Cs4 bound states near the molecular scattering continuum. The tunability of the interactions between molecules opens up novel applications such as controlled chemical reactions and synthesis of ultracold complex molecules.