Dramatic reductions in inelastic cross sections for ultracold collisions near Feshbach resonances

Hutson, JM; Beyene, M; González-Martínez, ML

Abstract

We show that low-energy inelastic cross sections can decrease as well as increase in the vicinity of a zero-energy Feshbach resonance. When an external field is used to tune across such a resonance, the real and imaginary parts of the scattering length show asymmetric oscillations with both peaks and troughs. In favorable circumstances, the inelastic collision rate can be reduced to almost zero. This may be important for efforts to achieve evaporative and sympathetic cooling for molecules.

Citation

Hutson, J., Beyene, M., & González-Martínez, M. (2009). Dramatic reductions in inelastic cross sections for ultracold collisions near Feshbach resonances. Physical Review Letters, 103(16), Article 163201. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.103.163201

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2009
• Deposit Date: Feb 2, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 12, 2013
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 103
• Issue: 16
• Article Number: 163201
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.103.163201