English

Tests of universal three-body physics in an ultracold Bose-Fermi mixture

Quantum Gases 2013-09-12 v2

Abstract

Recent measurements of Efimov resonances in a number of ultracold atom species have revealed an unexpected universality, in which three-body scattering properties are determined by the van der Waals length of the two-body interaction potential. To investigate whether this universality extends to heteronuclear mixtures, we measure loss rate coefficients in an ultracold trapped gas of 40^{40}K and 87^{87}Rb atoms. We find an Efimov-like resonance in the rate of inelastic collisions between 40^{40}K87^{87}Rb Feshbach molecules and 87^{87}Rb atoms. However, we do not observe any Efimov-related resonances in the rates of inelastic collisions between three atoms. These observations are compared to previous measurements by the LENS group of Efimov resonances in a 41^{41}K and 87^{87}Rb mixture as well as to recent predictions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1304.6989,
  title  = {Tests of universal three-body physics in an ultracold Bose-Fermi mixture},
  author = {Ruth S. Bloom and Ming-Guang Hu and Tyler D. Cumby and Deborah S. Jin},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.6989},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures