Three-Body Recombination at Vanishing Scattering Lengths in an Ultracold Bose Gas
Zav Shotan, Olga Machtey, S. J. J. M. F. Kokkelmans +1 more
We report on measurements of three-body recombination loss rates in an ultracold gas of ^{7}Li atoms in the extremely nonuniversal regime where the two-body scattering length vanishes. We show that the loss rate coefficient is well defined and can be described by two-body parameters only: the scattering length a and the effective range R_{e}. We find the rate to be energy independent, and, by connecting our results with previously reported measurements in the universal limit, we cover the behavior of the three-body recombination rate in the whole range from weak to strong two-body interactions. We identify a nontrivial magnetic field value in the nonuniversal regime where the rate should be suppressed.
arXiv:1404.3575•Physical Review Letters•Jul 31, 2014•45 citations