Efimov physics and universal trimers in spin-orbit-coupled ultracold atomic mixtures

Zhe-Yu Shi, Hui Zhai, and Xiaoling Cui
Phys. Rev. A 91, 023618 – Published 18 February 2015

Abstract

We study the two-body and three-body bound states in ultracold atomic mixtures with one of the atoms subjected to an isotropic spin-orbit (SO) coupling. We consider a system of two identical fermions interacting with one SO-coupled atom. It is found that there can exist two types of three-body bound states, Efimov trimers and universal trimers. The Efimov trimers are energetically less favored by the SO coupling, which will finally merge into the atom-dimer threshold as increasing the SO-coupling strength. Nevertheless, these trimers exhibit a discrete scaling law incorporating the SO-coupling effect. On the other hand, the universal trimers are more favored by the SO coupling. They can be induced at negative s-wave scattering lengths and with smaller mass ratios than those without SO coupling. These results are obtained by both the Born-Oppenheimer approximation and exact solutions from three-body equations.

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  • Received 8 December 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.91.023618

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Zhe-Yu Shi1, Hui Zhai1, and Xiaoling Cui2,*

  • 1Institute for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • 2Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

  • *xlcui@iphy.ac.cn

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Vol. 91, Iss. 2 — February 2015

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