Electric-field-modified Feshbach resonances in ultracold atom–molecule collision

We present a detailed analysis of near zero-energy Feshbach resonances in ultracold collisions of atom and molecule,taking the He–PH system as an example, subject to superimposed electric and magnetic static fields. We find that the electric field can induce Feshbach resonance which cannot occur when only a magnetic field is applied, through couplings of the adjacent rotational states of different parities. We show that the electric field can shift the position of the magnetic Feshbach resonance, and change the amplitude of resonance significantly. Finally, we demonstrate that, for narrow magnetic Feshbach resonance as in most cases of ultracold atom–molecule collision, the electric field may be used to modulate the resonance, because the width of resonance in electric field scale is relatively larger than that in magnetic field scale.     

Control of ultracold collisions with frequency-chirped light

We report on ultracold atomic collision experiments utilizing frequency-chirped laser light. A rapid chirp below the atomic resonance results in adiabatic excitation to an attractive molecular potential over a wide range of internuclear separation. This leads to a transient inelastic collision rate which is large compared to that obtained with fixed-frequency excitation. The combination of high efficiency and temporal control demonstrates the benefit of applying the techniques of coherent control to the ultracold domain.     

Large effects of electric fields on atom-molecule collisions at millikelvin temperatures

Controlling interactions between cold molecules using external fields can elucidate the role of quantum mechanics in molecular collisions. We create a new experimental platform in which ultracold rubidium atoms and cold ammonia molecules are separately trapped by magnetic and electric fields and then combined to study collisions. We observe inelastic processes that are faster than expected from earlier field-free calculations. We use quantum scattering calculations to show that electric fields can have a major effect on collision outcomes, even in the absence of dipole-dipole interactions.     

Rotational Feshbach resonances in ultracold molecular collisions

In collisions at ultralow temperatures, molecules will possess Feshbach resonances, foreign to ultracold atoms, whose virtual excited states consist of rotations of the molecules. We estimate the mean spacing and mean widths of these resonant states, exploiting the fact the molecular collisions at low energy display chaotic motion. As examples, we consider the experimentally relevant molecules O2, OH, and PbO. Especially for polar species, the density of s-wave resonant states is quite high, implying potentially disastrous consequences for trapped molecules.     

Cross-section for collisions of ultracold Li with Na

In a magneto-optical trap (MOT) we are able to simultaneously trap and cool ⁷Li and Na. We investigated the loading behavior of the cloud of Li atoms in presence of the overlapped cloud of cold Na atoms, and, by blocking the weak repumping beam for Na, compared it with the loading curve for Li atoms only. Out of these loading curves we calculated the collision cross-section of Na on Li to be 10^-11 cm ³ /s. Received 11 January 2002 / Received in final form 5 April 2002 Published online 24 September 2002     

Scattering length scaling laws for ultracold three-body collisions

We present a simple and unifying picture that provides the energy and scattering length dependence for all inelastic three-body collision rates in the ultracold regime for three-body systems with short-range two-body interactions. Here, we present the scaling laws for vibrational relaxation, three-body recombination, and collision-induced dissociation for systems that support s-wave two-body collisions. These systems include three identical bosons, two identical bosons, and two identical fermions. Our approach reproduces all previous results, predicts several others, and gives the general form of the scaling laws in all cases.     

Rotational relaxation in ultracold He+BH collisions

Collisions of cold and ultracold BH in the v=0 level with the He atom are investigated using the quantum mechanical scattering formulation. The elastic and the inelastic cross sections are calculated using the two-dimensional ab initio potential energy surface. It is shown that the elastic cross section is larger than the inelastic one. When the collision energy is very low, the elastic cross section follows the Wigner threshold law and is one order of magnitude larger than that of He-O₂, while it is much smaller than that of He-H₂. The efficiency of the rotationally quenching state is given. The Δj=-1 transition is most efficient. The resonances are also found to occur at about the same translational energy (0.1-1 cm^-1), which gives rise to steps in the rate coefficient at temperatures around 0.1-1 K.     

Controlling collisions of ultracold atoms with dc electric fields

It is demonstrated that elastic collisions of ultracold atoms forming a heteronuclear collision complex can be manipulated by laboratory practicable dc electric fields. The mechanism of electric field control is based on the interaction of the instantaneous dipole moment of the collision pair with external electric fields. It is shown that this interaction is dramatically enhanced in the presence of a p-wave shape or Feshbach scattering resonance near the collision threshold, which leads to novel electric-field-induced Feshbach resonances.     

Observation of Feshbach-like resonances in collisions between ultracold molecules

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.     

Quantum dynamics of ultracold Na+ Na2 collisions

Ultracold collisions between spin-polarized Na atoms and vibrationally excited Na2 molecules are investigated theoretically, using a reactive scattering formalism (including atom exchange). Calculations are carried out on both pairwise additive and nonadditive potential energy surfaces for the quartet electronic state. The Wigner threshold laws are followed for energies below 10(-5) K. Vibrational relaxation processes dominate elastic processes for temperatures below 10(-3)-10(-4) K. For temperatures below 10(-5) K, the rate coefficients for vibrational relaxation (v=1-->0) are 4.8x10(-11) and 5.2x10(-10) cm(3) s(-1) for the additive and nonadditive potentials, respectively. The large difference emphasizes the importance of using accurate potential energy surfaces for such calculations.     

Rovibrational in ultracold quenching of BH 3He collisions

The interaction potential of a He-BH complex is investigated by the coupled-cluster single-double plus perturbative triples （CCSD （T）） method and an augmented correlation consistent polarized valence （aug-cc-pV）5Z basis set extended with a set of （3s3p2dlflg） midbond functions. Using the five two-dimensional model potentials, the first three-dimensional interaction potential energy surface is constructed by interpolating along （r-re） by using a fourth-order polynomial. The cross sections for the rovibrational relaxation of BH in cold and ultracold collisions with 3He atom are calculated based on the three-dimensional potential. The results show that the △v =-1 transition is more efficient than the △v=-2 transition, and that the process of relaxation takes place mainly between rotational energy levels with the same vibration state and the △j=-1 transition is the most efficient. The zero temperature quenching rate coefficient is finite as predicted by Wigner＇s law. The resonance is found to take place around 0.1-1 cm^-1 translational energy, which gives rise to a step in the rate coefficients for temperatures around 0.1-1 K. The final rotational distributions in the state v = 0 resulting from the quenching of state （v = 1,j = 0） at three energies corresponding to the three different regimes are also given.     

Optical clock and ultracold collisions with trapped strontium atoms

With microkelvin neutral strontium atoms confined in an optical lattice, we have achieved a fractional resolution of better than 5×10^–15 on the ¹ S ₀–³ P ₀ doubly forbidden ⁸⁷Sr clock transition at 698 nm. Measurements of the clock line shifts as a function of experimental parameters indicate that the fractional uncertainties due to systematic shifts could be reduced below 10^–15. The ultrahigh spectral resolution permitted resolving the nuclear spin states of the clock transition at small magnetic fields, leading to measurements of the ³ P ₀ magnetic moment and metastable lifetime. In addition, photoassociation spectroscopy was performed on the narrow ¹ S ₀–³ P ₁ transition of ⁸⁸Sr, revealing the least-bound state, and showing promise for efficient optical tuning of the ground state scattering length and production of cold molecules.     

Quantum logic via the exchange blockade in ultracold collisions

A nuclear spin can act as a quantum switch that turns on or off ultracold collisions between atoms even when there is neither interaction between nuclear spins nor between the nuclear and electron spins. This "exchange blockade" is a new mechanism for implementing quantum logic gates that arises from the symmetry of composite identical particles, rather than direct coupling between qubits. We study the implementation of the entangling sqrt SWAP gate based on this mechanism for a model system of two atoms, each with ground electronic configuration 1S0, spin 1/2 nuclei, and trapped in optical tweezers. We evaluate a proof-of-principle protocol based on adiabatic evolution of a one-dimensional double Gaussian well, calculating fidelities of operation as a function of interaction strength, gate time, and temperature.     

Inelastic collisions of ultracold heteronuclear molecules in an optical trap

Ultracold RbCs molecules in high-lying vibrational levels of the a3Sigma+ ground electronic state are confined in an optical trap. Inelastic collision rates of these molecules with both Rb and Cs atoms are determined for individual vibrational levels, across an order of magnitude of binding energies. The long-range dispersion coefficients for the collision process are calculated and used in a model that accurately reproduce the observed scattering rates.     

Magnetic field dependence of ultracold inelastic collisions near a feshbach resonance

Inelastic collision rates for ultracold 85Rb atoms in the F = 2, m(f) = -2 state have been measured as a function of magnetic field. At 250 gauss (G), the two- and three-body loss rates were measured to be K2 = (1.87+/-0.95+/-0.19)x10(-14) cm(3)/s and K3 = (4.24(+0. 70)(-0.29)+/-0.85)x10(-25) cm(6)/s, respectively. As the magnetic field is decreased from 250 G towards a Feshbach resonance at 155 G, the inelastic rates decrease to a minimum and then increase dramatically, peaking at the Feshbach resonance. Both two- and three-body losses are important, and individual contributions have been compared with theory.