Feshbach resonances and molecule formation in ultracold mixtures of Rb and Yb(3P) atoms

Mukherjee, Bijit; Frye, Matthew D.; Hutson, Jeremy M.

Abstract

We have investigated magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances in ultracold collisions of Rb with Yb in its metastable 3P2 and 3P0 states, using coupled-channel scattering and bound-state calculations. For the 3P2 state, we find sharp resonances when both atoms are in their lowest Zeeman sublevels. However, these resonances are decayed by inelastic processes that produce Yb atoms in 3P1 and 3P0 states. The molecules that might be produced by magnetoassociation at the 3P2 thresholds can decay by similar pathways and would have lifetimes no more than a few microseconds. For the 3P0 state, by contrast, there are resonances that are promising for magnetoassociation. There are resonances due to both rotating and nonrotating molecular states that are significantly stronger than the analogous resonances for Yb(1S). The ones due to rotating states are denser in magnetic field; in contrast to Yb(1S), they exist even for bosonic isotopes of Yb(3P0).

Citation

Mukherjee, B., Frye, M. D., & Hutson, J. M. (2022). Feshbach resonances and molecule formation in ultracold mixtures of Rb and Yb(3P) atoms. Physical Review A, 105(2), Article 023306. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.105.023306

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 13, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 7, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-02
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 14, 2022
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 105
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 023306
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.105.023306
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1214179
• Related Public URLs: https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.15906