Abstract
We create atom-molecule superpositions in a Bose-Fermi mixture of and atoms. The superpositions are generated by ramping an applied magnetic field near an interspecies Fano-Feshbach resonance to coherently couple atom and molecule states. Rabi- and Ramsey-type experiments show oscillations in the molecule population that persist as long as and have up to 50% contrast. The frequencies of these oscillations are magnetic-field dependent and consistent with the predicted molecule binding energy. This quantum superposition involves a molecule and a pair of free particles with different statistics (i.e., bosons and fermions) and furthers exploration of atom-molecule coherence in systems without a Bose-Einstein condensate.
- Received 10 October 2008
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.80.030701
©2009 American Physical Society