This thesis reports on calculations of the scattering properties of a variety of ultracold alkali-metal mixtures. In particular, we have calculated the scattering properties of homonuclear mixtures of 85Rb, in a variety of incoming channels, and we have calculated the properties of heteronuclear mixtures of the isotopologues of Rb and Cs, and K and Cs. In general, we are interested in the location and character of Feshbach resonances in these mixtures with a view towards ultracold molecule formation. In 85Rb there is a rich Feshbach structure and potential uses for the resonances that we find, in the scattering lengths of the various incoming channels, are discussed. In 85RbCs there is a rich Feshbach structure and the prospects for ultracold molecule formation using this system are detailed. Similarly, we detail the Feshbach resonances of 87RbCs and discuss our results in the context of the successful formation of ultracold ground-state molecules. In the isotopologues of KCs each system has a rich Feshbach structure and we detail the location and width of the resonances, as well as the potential for ultracold molecule formation using each of the isotopes of potassium. In addition to scattering calculations, we have also calculated the location and character of the highest-lying bound states of each system. We have investigated the energy dependence of the scattering length using accurate coupled-channel calculations on 6Li, 39K and 133Cs to explore the behaviour of the effective range in the vicinity of both broad and narrow Feshbach resonances. We present an alternative parametrization of the effective range and further demonstrate that an analytical form of an energy and magnetic field-dependent phase shift, based on multichannel quantum defect theory, gives accurate results for the energy-dependent scattering length. Lastly, we examine the effect of additional external fields on alkali-metal collisions and discuss how external fields can be used to manipulate the interaction properties of a system.
We investigate magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances between ultracold europium atoms and between europium and alkali-metal atoms using multichannel quantum scattering calculations. For ultracold gases of europium atoms both homonuclear
153Eu+153Eu and heteronuclear
151Eu+153Eu systems are studied. Calculations for mixtures of europium and alkali-metal atoms are carried out for prototype systems of
153Eu+87Rb and
153Eu+7Li. We analyze the prospects for the control of scattering properties, observation of quantum chaotic behavior, and magnetoassociation into ultracold polar and paramagnetic molecules. We show that favorable resonances can be expected at experimentally feasible magnetic-field strengths below
1000G for all investigated atomic combinations. For Eu atoms, a rich spectrum of resonances is expected as a result of the competition between relatively weak short-range spin-exchange and strong long-range magnetic dipole-dipole interactions, where the dipolar interaction induces measurable resonances. A high density of resonances is expected at magnetic-field strengths below
200G without pronounced quantum chaos signatures. The present results may be useful for the realization and application of dipolar atomic and molecular quantum gases based on europium atoms in many-body physics.
We consider the magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances that may exist in ultracold mixtures of molecules in ${}^{2}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}$ states and alkali-metal atoms. We focus on
Rb+CaF as a prototype system. There are likely to be Feshbach resonances analogous to those between pairs of alkali-metal atoms. We investigate the patterns of near-threshold states and the resonances that they cause, using coupled-channel calculations of the bound states and low-energy scattering on model interaction potentials. We explore the dependence of the properties on as-yet-unknown potential parameters. There is a high probability that resonances will exist at magnetic fields below 1000 G, and that these will be broad enough to control collisions and form triatomic molecules by magnetoassociation. We consider the effects of CaF rotation and anisotropy of the interaction potential, and conclude that they may produce additional resonances but should not affect the existence of rotation-free resonances.