Coherent Control of Superfluidity with Photoassociation
Matt Mackie, Kalle‐Antti Suominen, Juha Javanainen
Abstract
We theoretically examine photoassociation of a dual Fermi degenerate gas, with a foucus on adjusting atom-atom interactions so as to raise the critical temperature of the BCS transition to a superfluid state. As it stands, extremely far-off resonant light (detuning ~ 10^14 Hz) is required to overcome spontaneous decay, leading to enormous intensity requirements (~ 10^8 W/cm^2) [Mackie et al., Opt. Express 8, 118 (2000)]. However, by considering photoassociation to a pair of molecular levels, and adjusting the phase of the laser to allow for destructive interference of spontaneous decay, superfluidity can be delivered within reach of existing experiments for modest values of intensity.