Enhanced association and dissociation of heteronuclear Feshbach molecules in a microgravity environment

J. P. D'Incao, M. Krutzik, E. Elliott, and J. R. Williams
Phys. Rev. A 95, 012701 – Published 3 January 2017

Abstract

We study the association and dissociation dynamics of weakly bound heteronuclear Feshbach molecules using transverse radio-frequency fields for expected parameters accessible through the microgravity environment of NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) aboard the International Space Station, including subnanokelvin temperatures and atomic densities as low as 108/cm3. We show that under such conditions, thermal and loss effects can be greatly suppressed, resulting in a high efficiency of both association and dissociation of Feshbach molecules with a mean size exceeding 104a0 and allowing for the coherence in atom-molecule transitions to be clearly observable. Our theoretical model for heteronuclear mixtures includes thermal, loss, and density effects in a simple and conceptually clear manner. We derive the temperature, density, and scattering length regimes of K41Rb87 that allow optimal association or dissociation efficiency with minimal heating and loss to guide upcoming experiments with ultracold atomic gases in space.

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  • Received 15 July 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.95.012701

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

J. P. D'Incao1,2, M. Krutzik3,4, E. Elliott4, and J. R. Williams4

  • 1JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, 440 UCB, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA
  • 3Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Institut für Physik, Newtonstr. 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany
  • 4Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, California 91011, USA

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 1 — January 2017

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