No Arabic abstract
Helium atoms in the metastable $2^3{S_{1}}$ state (He$^*$) have unique advantages for ultracold atomic experiments. However, there is no known accessible Feshbach resonance in He$^*$, which could be used to manipulate the scattering length and hence unlock several new experimental possiblities. Previous experimental and theoretical studies for He$^*$ have produced contradictory results. We aimed to resolve this discrepancy with a theoretical search for Feshbach resonances, using a new close-coupled model of He$^*$ collisions in the presence of an external magnetic field. Several resonances were detected and the existing literature discrepancy was resolved. Although none of the resonances identified are readily experimentally useable, an interesting non-Feshbach scattering length variation with magnetic field was observed in heteronuclear collisions, at field strengths that are experimentally accessible.
Mixed $^3$He-$^4$He droplets created by hydrodynamic instability of a cryogenic fluid-jet may acquire angular momentum during their passage through the nozzle of the experimental apparatus. These free-standing droplets cool down to very low temperatures undergoing isotopic segregation, developing a nearly pure $^3$He crust surrounding a very $^4$He-rich superfluid core. Here, the stability and appearance of rotating mixed helium droplets are investigated using Density Functional Theory for an isotopic composition that highlights, with some marked exceptions related to the existence of the superfluid inner core, the analogies with viscous rotating droplets.
Recently we have reported (Knoop et al. [arXiv:1404.4826]) on an experimental determination of metastable triplet $^4$He+$^{87}$Rb scattering length by performing thermalization measurements for an ultracold mixture in a quadrupole magnetic trap. Here we present our experimental apparatus and elaborate on these thermalization measurements. In particular we give a theoretical description of interspecies thermalization rate for a quadrupole magnetic trap, i. e. in the presence of Majorana heating, and a general procedure to extract the scattering length from the elastic cross section at finite temperature based on knowledge of the $C_6$ coefficient alone. In addition, from our thermalization data we obtain an upper limit of the total interspecies two-body loss rate coefficient of $1.5times 10^{-12}$ cm$^3$s$^{-1}$.
Interactions between particles can be strongly altered by their environment. We demonstrate a technique for modifying interactions between ultracold atoms by dressing the bare atomic states with light, creating an effective interaction of vastly increased range that scatters states of finite relative angular momentum at collision energies where only s-wave scattering would normally be expected. We collided two optically dressed neutral atomic Bose-Einstein condensates with equal, and opposite, momenta and observed that the usual s-wave distribution of scattered atoms was altered by the appearance of d- and g-wave contributions. This technique is expected to enable quantum simulation of exotic systems, including those predicted to support Majorana fermions.
We measure higher partial wave Feshbach resonances in an ultracold mixture of fermionic $^6$Li and bosonic $^{133}$Cs by magnetic field dependent atom-loss spectroscopy. For the $p$-wave Feshbach resonances we observe triplet structures corresponding to different projections of the pair rotation angular momentum onto the external magnetic field axis. We attribute the splittings to the spin-spin and spin-rotation couplings by modelling the observation using a full coupled-channel calculation. Comparison with an oversimplified model, estimating the spin-rotation coupling by describing the weakly bound close-channel molecular state with the perturbative multipole expansion, reveals the significant contribution of the molecular wavefunction at short internuclear distances. Our findings highlight the potential of Feshbach resonances in providing precise information on short- and intermediate-range molecular couplings and wavefunctions. The observed $d$-wave Feshbach resonances allow us to refine the LiCs singlet and triplet ground-state molecular potential curves at large internuclear separations.
We observe interspecies Feshbach resonances due to s-wave bound states in ultracold $^{39}$K-$^{133}$Cs scattering for three different spin mixtures. The resonances are observed as joint atom loss and heating of the K sample. We perform least-squares fits to obtain improved K-Cs interaction potentials that reproduce the observed resonances, and carry out coupled-channel calculations to characterize the scattering and bound-state properties for $^{39}$K-Cs, $^{40}$K-Cs and $^{41}$K-Cs. Our results open up the possibilities of tuning interactions in K-Cs atomic mixtures and of producing ultracold KCs molecules.