Three-Body Recombination of Ultracold Atoms to a Weakly Bound {ital s} Level

Journal Article · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.2921· OSTI ID:385777

Fedichev, P O; Reynolds, M W; Shlyapnikov, G V ^[1]

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1. Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, University of Amsterdam, Valckenierstraat 65-67, 1018 XE Amsterdam (The Netherlands)

We discuss three-body recombination of ultracold atoms to a weakly bound {ital s} level. In this case, characterized by large and positive scattering length {ital a} for pair interaction, we find a repulsive effective potential for three-body collisions, which strongly reduces the recombination probability. In the zero temperature limit we obtain a universal relation, independent of the detailed shape of the interaction potential, for the (event) rate constant of three-body recombination: {alpha}{sub rec}=3.9 {h_bar}{ital a}{sup 4}/{ital m}, where {ital m} is the atom mass. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

• OSTI ID: 385777
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 77, Issue 14; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1996
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
ATOMS
RECOMBINATION
LEVELS
SCATTERING LENGTHS
THREE-BODY PROBLEM
POTENTIALS
BINDING ENERGY