Production of three-body Efimov molecules in an optical lattice

Journal Article · Mon Aug 15 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.72.022714· OSTI ID:20718134

Stoll, Martin; Koehler, Thorsten ^[1]

---

1. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Universitaet Goettingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Goettingen (Germany)

We study the possibility of associating metastable Efimov trimers from three free Bose atoms in a tight trap realized, for instance, via an optical lattice site or a microchip. The suggested scheme for the production of these molecules is based on magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances and takes advantage of the Efimov effect in three-body energy spectra. Our predictions of the energy levels and wave functions of three pairwise interacting {sup 85}Rb atoms rely upon exact solutions of the Faddeev equations and include the tightly confining potential of an isotropic harmonic atom trap. The magnetic field dependence of these energy levels indicates that it is the lowest-energetic Efimov trimer state that can be associated in an adiabatic sweep of the field strength. We show that the binding energies and spatial extents of the trimer molecules produced are comparable, in their magnitudes, to those of the associated diatomic Feshbach molecule. The three-body molecular state follows Efimov's scenario when the pairwise attraction of the atoms is strengthened by tuning the magnetic field strength.

• OSTI ID: 20718134
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 72; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
BINDING ENERGY
BOSONS
EFIMOV EFFECT
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY SPECTRA
EXACT SOLUTIONS
FADDEEV EQUATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MOLECULES
POTENTIALS
RADIATION PRESSURE
RESONANCE
RUBIDIUM
RUBIDIUM 85
THREE-BODY PROBLEM
TRAPS
WAVE FUNCTIONS