Abstract
We realize simultaneous quantum degeneracy in mixtures consisting of the alkali and alkaline-earth-like atoms Li and Yb. This is accomplished within an optical trap by sympathetic cooling of the fermionic isotope with evaporatively cooled bosonic and, separately, fermionic . Using cross-thermalization studies, we also measure the elastic -wave scattering lengths of both Li-Yb combinations, and . The equality of these lengths is found to be consistent with mass-scaling analysis. The quantum degenerate mixtures of Li and Yb, as realized here, can be the basis for creation of ultracold molecules with electron spin degrees of freedom, studies of novel Efimov trimers, and impurity probes of superfluid systems.
- Received 16 March 2011
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.205304
© 2011 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Steps toward a new quantum fluid
Published 19 May 2011
Experimenters have created overlapping quantum fluids of lithium and ytterbium, en route to creating quantum fluids of molecules that have unpaired electronic spins.
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