We solve the two-particle s-wave scattering problem for ultracold atom gases confined in arbitrary quasi-one-dimensional (1D) trapping potentials, allowing for two different atom species. As a consequence, the centre-of-mass and relative degrees of freedom do not factorize. We derive bound-state solutions and obtain the general scattering solution, which exhibits several resonances in the 1D scattering length induced by the confinement. We apply our formalism to two experimentally relevant cases: (i) interspecies scattering in a two-species mixture, and (ii) the two-body problem for a single species in a non-parabolic trap.
We solve the two-body problem of ultracold heteronuclear atoms in a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) geometry. The quasi-2D confinement is realized by a harmonic trap along the longitudinal (
z-) direction, with different trap frequencies for the two atoms, as in many current experiments on ultracold heteronuclear gases. As a consequence, the longitudinal center-of-mass (CoM) motion is coupled to the relative motion, which significantly complicates the two-body problem. We solve this problem exactly and derive the 2D scattering length
a2D, the 2D effective range parameter
R2D, and the bound-state energies, as functions of the
s-wave scattering length and effective range of the two atoms in free three-dimensional (3D) space. We show that multiple 2D scattering resonances can be induced by the coupling between the longitudinal CoM and relative motion. Around these resonances,
a2D varies rapidly with the 3D scattering parameters, while
R2D is strongly enhanced. Since the effective pairwise interaction in quasi-2D ultracold gases is determined by i.e., the two-body scattering amplitudes and bound-state energies, our results can be used for manipulating the effective 2D interatomic interaction in quasi-2D ultracold heteronuclear gases by tuning the confinement frequencies and the 3D scattering parameters.
We study the effective one-dimensional (1D) scattering of two distinguishable atoms confined individually by separatedtransverse harmonic traps. With equal trapping frequency for two
s-wave interacting atoms, we find that by tuning the trap separations, the system can undergo double 1D scattering resonance, named as the separation-induced resonance (SIR), when the ratio between the confinement length and
s-wave scattering length is within
(0.791,1.46]. Near SIR, the scattering property shows unique dependence on the resonance position. The universality of a many-body system on scattering branch near SIR is demonstrated by studying the interaction effect of a localized impurity coupled with a Fermi sea of light atoms in a quasi-1D trap.
We describe a model for s-wave collisions between ground-state atoms in optical lattices, considering especially the limits of quasi-one- and two-dimensional axisymmetric harmonic confinement. When the atomic interactions are modeled by an s-wave Fermi pseudopotential, the relative motion energy eigenvalues can easily be obtained. The results show that except for a bound state, the trap eigenvalues are consistent with one- and two-dimensional scattering with renormalized scattering amplitudes. For absolute scattering lengths large compared with the tightest trap width, our model predicts a bound state of low energy and nearly-isotropic wave function extending on the order of the tightest trap width.
We study atom-atom scattering in quasi-one-dimensional geometries with transverse anisotropy. By assuming an
s-wave pseudopotential of contact interaction, we show that the system would exhibit a single confinement-induced resonance, where the scattering process degenerates to a total reflection as a one-dimensional gas of impenetrable bosons. For a general form of interaction, we present a formal calculation based on the two-channel model and draw the same qualitative conclusion of only one confinement-induced resonance. Our findings are inconsistent with a recent experiment by Haller et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 153203 (2010)], where a splitting of confinement-induced resonances has been observed in an anisotropic quasi-one-dimensional quantum gas of Cs atoms.
We studied the scattering problem of two distinguishable atoms with unequal mass, where one atom (atom $\ensuremath{\alpha}$) is trapped in a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) tube and the other one (atom $\ensuremath{\beta}$) is localized by a 3D harmonic trap. We show that in such a system if atom $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ is much heavier than $\ensuremath{\beta}$, confinement-induced resonance (CIR) can appear when the 3D
s-wave scattering length
as of these two atoms is much smaller than the characteristic lengths (CLs) of the confinements, for either
as>0 or
as<0. This is quite different from the usual CIRs which occur only when
as is comparable with the CL of confinement. Moreover, the CIRs we find are broad enough to serve as a tool for the control of effective interatomic interaction. We further show the mechanism of these CIRs via the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. Our results can be used for the realization of strongly interacting systems with ultracold atoms with weak 3D background interaction (i.e., small
as), e.g., the realization of ultracold gases with strong spin-dependent interaction at zero magnetic fields.