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arXiv:2606.02987

Scattering and Bound States of Two Heteronuclear Ultracold Atoms in a Quasi-Two-Dimensional Confinement

B. Wang, F. Yang, P. Zhang

cond-mat.quant-gasquant-phSubmitted Jun 2, 2026• Announced Jun 3, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

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 $a_{\rm 2D}$, the 2D effective range parameter $R_{\rm 2D}$, 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, $a_{\rm 2D}$ varies rapidly with the 3D scattering parameters, while $R_{\rm 2D}$ 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.

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We investigate the scattering and two-body bound states of two ultracold atoms in a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) confinement, with the confinement potential being an infinitely deep square well (box potential) in the transverse (zzz) direction, and the motion of the atoms in the $x\text{\ensuremath{-}}y$ plane being free. Specifically, we calculate the effective 2D scattering length and 2D effective range parameter of the low-energy scattering, as well as the energy and the transverse-excited-mode probability of the bound states. Comparing these results with those obtained under a harmonic transverse confinement potential, which has the same characteristic length as the box potential, we find that in most of the cases the 2D effective range parameter for the box confinement is approximately 0.28 of the one for the harmonic confinement. Moreover, the transverse-excited-mode probability of the bound states for the box confinement is also much lower than the one for the harmonic confinement. These results suggest that the transverse excitation in the box confinement is notably weaker than the one in the harmonic confinement with the same characteristic length. Therefore, achieving quasi-2D ultracold gases well described by pure-2D effective models, particularly those with 2D contact interaction, is more feasible through box confinement. Our results are helpful for the quantum simulation of 2D many-body physics with ultracold atoms, e.g., the suppression of 2D effective range parameter may lead to an enhancement of quantum anomaly in two-dimensional Fermi gases. Additionally, our calculation method is applicable to the two-body problems of ultracold atoms in other types of quasi-2D confinements.
We study the effective s-wave scattering of two heteronuclear atoms harmonically confined in quasi-low dimensions, where the atoms have unequal masses and are subject to different confinement frequencies. The resulting effective scattering parameters in low dimensions, including scattering length and effective range, are derived as functions of three-dimensional scattering parameters and confinement strengths. Using realistic Li-K and Li-Cr mixtures as examples, we further compute the binding energies of universal (1+N)(1+N)(1+N) clusters in quasi-low dimensions using the effective scattering parameters. Our findings suggest a promising pathway for practically observing universal clusters and their associated many-body phases in low-dimensional ultracold heteronuclear systems.
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 study the three-body problem for both fermionic and bosonic cold-atom gases in a parabolic transverse trap of length scale ${a}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}$. For this quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) problem, there is a two-body bound state (dimer) for any sign of the 3D scattering length aaa and a confinement-induced scattering resonance. The fermionic three-body problem is universal and characterized by two atom-dimer scattering lengths aad{a}_{\mathit{ad}}aad​ and bad{b}_{\mathit{ad}}bad​. In the tightly bound ``dimer limit'' ${a}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}∕a\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$, we find bad=0{b}_{\mathit{ad}}=0bad​=0 and aad{a}_{\mathit{ad}}aad​ is linked to the 3D atom-dimer scattering length. In the weakly bound ``BCS limit'' ${a}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}∕a\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\infty}$, a connection to the Bethe ansatz is established, which allows for exact results. The full crossover is obtained numerically. The bosonic three-body problem, however, is nonuniversal: aad{a}_{\mathit{ad}}aad​ and bad{b}_{\mathit{ad}}bad​ depend both on ${a}_{\ensuremath{\perp}}∕a$ and on a parameter R∗{R}^{*}R∗ related to the sharpness of the resonance. Scattering solutions are qualitatively similar to fermionic ones. We predict the existence of a single confinement-induced three-body bound state (trimer) for bosons.
We investigate the low-energy scattering and bound states of two two-component fermionic atoms in pure two-dimensional (2D) and quasi-2D confinements with Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We find that the SOC qualitatively changes the behavior of the 2D scattering amplitude in the low-energy limit. For quasi-2D systems we obtain the analytic expression for the effective 2D scattering amplitude and the algebraic equations for the two-atom bound-state energy. We further derive the effective 2D contact potential for the interaction between ultracold atoms in the quasi-2D confinement. This effective potential can be used in the research on many-body physics of quasi-2D ultracold Fermi gases with Rashba SOC.
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 sss-wave scattering length as{a}_{s}as​ of these two atoms is much smaller than the characteristic lengths (CLs) of the confinements, for either as>0{a}_{s}>0as​>0 or as<0{a}_{s}<0as​<0. This is quite different from the usual CIRs which occur only when as{a}_{s}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{a}_{s}as​), e.g., the realization of ultracold gases with strong spin-dependent interaction at zero magnetic fields.