22 research outputs found
Simple Mean-Field Theory for a Zero-Temperature Fermi Gas at a Feshbach Resonance
We present a simple two-channel mean field theory for a zero-temperature
two-component Fermi gas in the neighborhood of a Feshbach resonance. Our
results agree with recent experiments on the bare-molecule fraction as a
function of magnetic field [Partridge et al., cond-mat/0505353]. Even in this
strongly-coupled gas of Li-6, the experimental results depend on the structure
of the molecules formed in the Feshbach resonance and, therefore, are not
universal.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 27+ references; submitted to PR
Quantum instabilities in the system of identical bosons
The quantum instability of the mean-field theory for identical bosons is
shown to be described by an appropriate Bogoliubov transformation. A connection
between the quantum and classical linear stability theories is indicated. It is
argued that the instability rate in a system of identical bosons must be
strongly affected by the nonlinear terms (interactions). In the case of the
repulsive interactions or strong attractive interactions the instability rate
is suppressed. On the other hand, a weak attraction significantly enhances the
instability rate. The results can have applications in the field of
Bose-Einstein condensates of dilute quantum gases.Comment: 12 pages. 2 figures. To appear in Physics Letters
New Directions in Degenerate Dipolar Molecules via Collective Association
We survey results on the creation of heteronuclear Fermi molecules by tuning
a degenerate Bose-Fermi mixture into the neighborhood of an association
resonance, either photoassociation or Feshbach, as well as the subsequent
prospects for Cooper-like pairing between atoms and molecules. In the simplest
case of only one molecular state, corresponding to either a Feshbach resonance
or one-color photoassociation, the system displays Rabi oscillations and rapid
adiabatic passage between a Bose-Fermi mixture of atoms and fermionic
molecules. For two-color photoassociation, the system admits stimulated Raman
adiabatic passage (STIRAP) from a Bose-Fermi mixture of atoms to stable Fermi
molecules, even in the presence of particle-particle interactions. By tailoring
the STIRAP sequence it is possible to deliberately convert only a fraction of
the initial atoms, leaving a finite fraction of bosons behind to induce
atom-molecule Cooper pairing via density fluctuations; unfortunately, this
enhancement is insufficient to achieve a superfluid transition with present
ultracold technology. We therefore propose the use of an association resonance
that converts atoms and diatomic molecules (dimers) into triatomic molecules
(trimers), which leads to a crossover from a Bose-Einstein condensate of
trimers to atom-dimer Cooper pairs. Because heteronuclear dimers may possess a
permanent electric dipole moment, this overall system presents an opportunity
to investigate novel microscopic physics.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 77+ references, submitted to Euro. Phys. J.
topical issue on "Ultracold Polar Molecules: Formation and Collisions
Quantum effects on the dynamics of a two-mode atom-molecule Bose-Einstein condensate
We study the system of coupled atomic and molecular condensates within the
two-mode model and beyond mean-field theory (MFT). Large amplitude
atom-molecule coherent oscillations are shown to be damped by the rapid growth
of fluctuations near the dynamically unstable molecular mode. This result
contradicts earlier predictions about the recovery of atom-molecule
oscillations in the two-mode limit. The frequency of the damped oscillation is
also shown to scale as with the total number of atoms ,
rather than the expected pure scaling. Using a linearized model, we
obtain analytical expressions for the initial depletion of the molecular
condensate in the vicinity of the instability, and show that the important
effect neglected by mean field theory is an initially non-exponential
`spontaneous' dissociation into the atomic vacuum. Starting with a small
population in the atomic mode, the initial dissociation rate is sensitive to
the exact atomic amplitudes, with the fastest (super-exponential) rate observed
for the entangled state, formed by spontaneous dissociation.Comment: LaTeX, 5 pages, 3 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX and epsfig,
submitted to Physical Review A, Rapid Communication
Model study on the photoassociation of a pair of trapped atoms into an ultralong-range molecule
Using the method of quantum-defect theory, we calculate the ultralong-range
molecular vibrational states near the dissociation threshold of a diatomic
molecular potential which asymptotically varies as . The properties of
these states are of considerable interest as they can be formed by
photoassociation (PA) of two ground state atoms. The Franck-Condon overlap
integrals between the harmonically trapped atom-pair states and the
ultralong-range molecular vibrational states are estimated and compared with
their values for a pair of untrapped free atoms in the low-energy scattering
state. We find that the binding between a pair of ground-state atoms by a
harmonic trap has significant effect on the Franck-Condon integrals and thus
can be used to influence PA. Trap-induced binding between two ground-state
atoms may facilitate coherent PA dynamics between the two atoms and the
photoassociated diatomic molecule.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. A (September, 2003