This thesis reports on the tunability of interactions in ultracold Bose-Fermi mixtures of Cesium and Lithium. The \nfirst realization of an optically trapped \n6Li -133Cs mixture enabled to perform trap loss spectroscopy measurements to identify \nmagnetic Feshbach resonances. A total of 19 interspecies Feshbach resonances, all in the magnetic field range between 650 G and 950 G, were observed for the two energetically lowest spin states of each species. Two 5 G broad and especially two 60 G broad s-wave resonances give perspectives to produce a dipolar quantum gas of LiCs ground state molecules as well as to study the Efimov effect in highly mass imbalanced systems. In addition, a unique relative tunability of intra- and interspecies \nscattering lengths was found which makes the 6Li -133Cs system also well suited for the investigation of polarons. Evaporative cooling was performed on optically trapped samples which contained only one of the species. In this way, Bose-Einstein condensates of 6Li molecules as well as 133Cs samples at a phase-space density of p = 4 · 10^2 were prepared. All experiments were performed in a new apparatus, which has been designed and set up during this thesis.
This thesis reports on the tunability of interactions in ultracold Bose-Fermi mixtures of Cesium and Lithium. The \nfirst realization of an optically trapped \n6Li -133Cs mixture enabled to perform trap loss spectroscopy measurements to identify \nmagnetic Feshbach resonances. A total of 19 interspecies Feshbach resonances, all in the magnetic field range between 650 G and 950 G, were observed for the two energetically lowest spin states of each species. Two 5 G broad and especially two 60 G broad s-wave resonances give perspectives to produce a dipolar quantum gas of LiCs ground state molecules as well as to study the Efimov effect in highly mass imbalanced systems. In addition, a unique relative tunability of intra- and interspecies \nscattering lengths was found which makes the 6Li -133Cs system also well suited for the investigation of polarons. Evaporative cooling was performed on optically trapped samples which contained only one of the species. In this way, Bose-Einstein condensates of 6Li molecules as well as 133Cs samples at a phase-space density of p = 4 · 10^2 were prepared. All experiments were performed in a new apparatus, which has been designed and set up during this thesis.
This thesis reports on scattering experiments performed with an ultracold mixture of fermionic 6Li and bosonic 133Cs atoms, studying two-, few-, and many-body effects in a highly mass-imbalanced system. To this end, the existing apparatus for the creation of ultracold gases is extended and improved by gray molasses cooling of 6Li and high-resolution absorption imaging. s-, p-, and d-wave Feshbach resonances in the two energetically lowest hyperfine channels are detected via atom-loss and binding energy spectroscopy. These measurements in combination with the coupled channels modeling provide a ten-fold improved parametrization of the interspecies s-wave scattering length and precise determination of the LiCs molecular potential curves. For the first time effects of spin-rotation coupling in Feshbach resonances are observed, reflected in a triplet splitting of the p-wave components. The influence of the intraspecies scattering length on the heteronuclear Efimov scenario is studied by means of threebody loss rate measurements in the vicinity of two Feshbach resonances, characterized either by a positive or negative intraspecies scattering length. The measurements are quantitatively compared to the hyperspherical adiabatic formalism. The positive intraspecies scattering length can be interpreted as three-body parameter. The impact of few-body physics in the many-body impurity problem is discussed and prospects for realization of quantum degenerate Bose-Fermi mixtures with large mass imbalance are provided.
This thesis reports the observation of interspecies Feshbach resonances in an ultracold mixture of Rb and Cs atoms. A versatile combined magnetic and optical potential has been designed and constructed which is capable of bringing both 87Rb and 133Cs to degeneracy, and reaching high phase-space density in 85Rb. High phase-space density mixtures are the first step required in the production of ultracold polar molecules, the topic of much current research. The apparatus capitalises on the efficient capture of atoms by a magnetic trap from a magneto-optical trap, and the efficient sympathetic cooling of Cs by Rb therein. Upon transfer to the crossed optical dipole trap condensates in excess of 1×10687Rb atoms and approximately 1×105133Cs atoms are produced after direct evaporation and gravito-magnetic tilting of the potential. The observation of six interspecies 87Rb-133Cs Feshbach resonances are reported, three of which had only been predicted theoretically, allowing testing and development of the theoretical model. Furthermore, the extrapolation of this model has predicted numerous Feshbach resonances between 85Rb and 133Cs, none of which have been experimentally observed prior to this work. The versatile nature of this apparatus is discussed, including the application of the current system to cooling of 85Rb. Initial experiments observed seven interspecies resonances, including a broad s-wave resonance at a magnetic field of (644±2) G which is in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction. Further work has revealed that fourteen Feshbach resonances exist in the 0-700 G magnetic field range between 85Rb and 133Cs atoms in the ∣2,+2⟩ and ∣3,+3⟩ states, respectively. Several of these resonances would be ideal for magneto-association of RbCs molecules, prior to transfer to the rovibrational ground-state.
We report on the observation of 19 interspecies Feshbach resonances in an optically trapped ultracold Bose-Fermi mixture of 133Cs and 6Li in the two energetically lowest spin states. We assign the resonances to s- and p-wave molecular channels by a coupled-channels calculation, resulting in an accurate determination of LiCs ground-state potentials. Fits of the resonance position based on the undressed asymptotic bound state model do not provide the same level of accuracy as the coupled-channels calculation. Several broad s-wave resonances provide prospects to create fermionic LiCs molecules with a large dipole moment via Feshbach association followed by stimulated Raman passage. Two of the s-wave resonances overlap with a zero crossing of the Cs scattering length, which offers prospects for the investigation of polarons in an ultracold Li-Cs mixture.
We investigate quantum-mechanical interactions between ultracold rubidium and cesium in an optical trap at temperatures of a few microkelvin. Our results provide, on the one hand, an experimental key to understand the collisional properties and, on the other hand, a tool to control the interspecies interactions. By performing loss measurements we locate several Feshbach resonances, which provide insight into the energy structure of weakly bound RbCs molecules near the dissociation threshold and allow for the production of such heteronuclear Feshbach molecules. In the future we will transfer these loosely-bound molecules into the absolute internal ground state. The availability of ultracold heteronuclear ground state molecules will open the door to investigate phenomena associated with ultracold polar quantum gases. In our new experimental set-up we are able to trap and cool rubidium and cesium atoms in their lowest internal states. First we load both species into a two-color magneto-optical trap, having full control over the single-species atom number. We extend the technique of degenerate Raman-sideband cooling to a two-color version, which is able to simultaneously cool and polarize both rubidium and cesium. Thereafter we load the atoms into a levitated crossed optical dipole trap. Because of the presence of the gradient magnetic field the trap is highly state selective and consequently provides perfect spin-polarization of the sample. Furthermore, a coincidence of the magnetic-moment-to-mass ratios of the two species allows for simultaneous levitation of both, which assures an almost perfect spatial overlap between the species. We perform Feshbach spectroscopy in two different spin channels of the mixture within a magnetic field ranging from 20 to 300G. In the lowest spin combination of the species we locate 23 interspecies Feshbach resonances, while in a higher spin mixture we find 2 resonances. The high number of resonances found within this range of magnetic field is unusual for alkali mixtures. The presence of many resonances points to scattering properties of the mixture, which include higher-order coupling mechanisms. The obtained data on the Feshbach spectroscopy provide, on one hand, fundamental experimental input to characterize the Rb-Cs scattering properties and, on the other hand, identification of possible starting points for the association of ultracold heteronuclear RbCs molecules. In addition we show preliminary results on spectroscopy of the binding energy of RbCs dimers, based on a modulation of the magnetic field. The recently obtained Bose-Einstein condensate of Cs atoms, which represents a benchmark for the performance of the present apparatus, will be discussed as well as the potential pathways towards a double-degenerate mixture. We follow two main goals, first the production of a double Bose-Einstein condensate and, second, the transfer of shallow bound Feshbach molecules to the absolute internal ground state. The production of heteronuclear ground state molecules allows to enter the world of ultracold polar quantum systems.
This thesis presents studies of quantum degenerate atomic gases of fermionic 6Li and bosonic 7Li. Degeneracy is reached by evaporative cooling of 7Li in a strongly confining magnetic trap. Since at low temperatures direct evaporative cooling is not possible for a polarized fermionic gas, 6Li is sympathetically cooled by thermal contact with 7Li. In a first series of experiments both isotopes are trapped in their low-field seeking higher hyperfine states. A Fermi degeneracy of is achieved for 105 fermions. For more than ~300 atoms, the 7Li condensate collapses, due to the attractive interatomic interaction in this state. This limits the degeneracy reached for both species. To overcome this limit, in a second series of experiments 7Li and 6Li atoms are transferred to their low field seeking lower hyperfine states, where the boson-boson interaction is repulsive but weak. The inter-isotope collisions are used to thermalize the mixture. A 7Li Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 104 atoms immersed in a Fermi sea is produced. The BEC is quasi-one-dimensional and the thermal fraction can be negligible. The measured degeneracies are . The temperature is measured using the bosonic thermal fraction, which vanishes at the lowest temperatures, limiting our measurement sensitivity. In a third series of experiments, the bosons are transferred into an optical trap and their internal state is changed to , the lowest energy state. A Feshbach resonance is detected and used to produce a BEC with tunable atomic interactions. When the effective interaction between atoms is tuned to be small and attractive, we observe the formation of a matter-wave bright soliton. Propagation of the soliton without spreading over a macroscopic distance of 1.1~mm is observed.
We report on the observation of Feshbach resonances in ultracold $^{6}\mathrm{Li}\text{\ensuremath{-}}^{164}\mathrm{Dy}$ mixtures, where 6Li atoms are respectively prepared in their three lowest spin states and 164Dy atoms are prepared in their lowest-energy state. We observe 21 interspecies scattering resonances over a magnetic-field range from 0 to 702 G using atom loss spectroscopy, three of which exhibit relatively broad widths. These broad resonances provide precise control over the interspecies interaction strength, enabling the study of strongly interacting effects in $^{6}\mathrm{Li}\text{\ensuremath{-}}^{164}\mathrm{Dy}$ mixtures. Additionally, we observe a well-isolated interspecies resonance at 700.1 G, offering a unique platform to explore novel impurity physics, where heavy dipolar 164Dy atoms are immersed in a strongly interacting Fermi superfluid of 6Li atoms.