440 research outputs found
Efimov Trimer Formation via Ultracold Four-body Recombination
We discuss the collisional formation of Efimov trimers via ultracold
four-body recombination. In particular, we consider the reaction A+A+A+B->A3+B
with A and B ultracold atoms. We obtain expressions for the four-body
recombination rate and show that it reflects the three-body Efimov physics
either as a function of collision energy or as a function of the two-body
s-wave scattering length between A atoms. In addition, we briefly discuss
issues important for experimentally observing this interesting and relatively
unexplored process.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Lifetime of molecule-atom mixtures near a Feshbach resonance in 40K
We report a dramatic magnetic field dependence in the lifetime of trapped,
ultracold diatomic molecules created through an s-wave Feshbach resonance in
40K. The molecule lifetime increases from less than 1 ms away from the Feshbach
resonance to greater than 100 ms near resonance. We also have measured the
trapped atom lifetime as a function of magnetic field near the Feshbach
resonance; we find that the atom loss is more pronounced on the side of the
resonance containing the molecular bound state
Influence of a tight isotropic harmonic trap on photoassociation in ultracold homonuclear alkali gases
The influence of a tight isotropic harmonic trap on photoassociation of two
ultracold alkali atoms forming a homonuclear diatomic is investigated using
realistic atomic interaction potentials. Confinement of the initial atom pair
due to the trap leads to a uniform strong enhancement of the photoassociation
rate to most, but also to a strongly suppressed rate for some final states.
Thus tighter traps do not necessarily enhance the photoassociation rate. A
further massive enhancement of the rate is found for strong interatomic
interaction potentials. The details of this interaction play a minor role,
except for large repulsive interactions for which a sharp window occurs in the
photoassociation spectrum as is known from the trap-free case. A comparison
with simplified models describing the atomic interaction like the
pseudopotential approximation shows that they often provide reasonable
estimates for the trap-induced enhancement of the photoassociation rate even if
the predicted rates can be completely erroneous.Comment: 19 pages, 17 figure
Measurement of positive and negative scattering lengths in a Fermi gas of atoms
An exotic superfluid phase has been predicted for an ultracold gas of
fermionic atoms. This phase requires strong attractive interactions in the gas,
or correspondingly atoms with a large, negative s-wave scattering length. Here
we report on progress toward realizing this predicted superfluid phase. We
present measurements of both large positive and large negative scattering
lengths in a quantum degenerate Fermi gas of atoms. Starting with a
two-component gas that has been evaporatively cooled to quantum degeneracy, we
create controllable, strong interactions between the atoms using a
magnetic-field Feshbach resonance. We then employ a novel rf spectroscopy
technique to directly measure the mean-field interaction energy, which is
proportional to the s-wave scattering length. Near the peak of the resonance we
observe a saturation of the interaction energy; it is in this strongly
interacting regime that superfluidity is predicted to occur. We have also
observed anisotropic expansion of the gas, which has recently been suggested as
a signature of superfluidity. However, we find that this can be attributed to a
purely collisional effect
BEC-BCS crossover in an optical lattice
We present the microscopic theory for the BEC-BCS crossover of an atomic
Fermi gas in an optical lattice, showing that the Feshbach resonance underlying
the crossover in principle induces strong multiband effects. Nevertheless, the
BEC-BCS crossover itself can be described by a single-band model since it
occurs at magnetic fields that are relatively far away from the Feshbach
resonance. A criterion is proposed for the latter, which is obeyed by most
known Feshbach resonances in ultracold atomic gases.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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