Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:cond-mat/0403362 · Physical Review Letters

Conversion Efficiency of Ultracold Fermionic Atoms to Bosonic Molecules via Feshbach Resonance Sweep Experiments

E. Pazy, Amichay Vardi, Y. B. Band

Published Sep 16, 2004• 23 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We explain why the experimental efficiency observed in the conversion of ultracold Fermi gases of 40K and 6Li atoms into diatomic Bose gases is limited to 0.5 when the Feshbach resonance sweep rate is sufficiently slow to pass adiabatically through the Landau-Zener transition but faster than "the collision rate" in the gas, and increases beyond 0.5 when it is slower. The 0.5 efficiency limit is due to the preparation of a statistical mixture of two spin states, required to enable s-wave scattering. By constructing the many-body state of the system we show that this preparation yields a mixture of even and odd parity pair states, where only even parity can produce molecules. The odd parity spin-symmetric states must decorrelate before the constituent atoms can further Feshbach scatter, thereby increasing the conversion efficiency; "the collision rate" is the pair decorrelation rate.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.93.120409

Related papers

Feshbach-molecule formation in a Bose-Fermi mixture

Tyler D. Cumby, Ruth Shewmon, Ming-Guang Hu +2 more

We investigate magnetoassociation of ultracold fermionic Feshbach molecules in a mixture of ${}^{40}$K and ${}^{87}$Rb atoms, where we can create ${}^{40}$K${}^{87}$Rb molecules with a conversion efficiency as high as 45%. In the limit of fast magnetic sweeps and small molecule fraction, we find that the time scale of molecule production is accurately predicted by a parameter-free model that uses only the atomic densities, masses, and the known Feshbach resonance parameters. We find that molecule production efficiency saturates for slower magnetic sweeps, at which point the maximum number of Feshbach molecules depends primarily on the atoms' phase-space density. At higher temperatures, our measurements agree with a phenomenological model that successfully describes the formation of bosonic molecules from either Bose or Fermi gases. However, for quantum degenerate atom gas mixtures, we measure significantly fewer molecules than this model predicts.

arXiv:1212.0903•Physical Review A•Jan 7, 2013•35 citations

Production Efficiency of Ultracold Feshbach Molecules in Bosonic and Fermionic Systems

E. Hodby, Sarah T. Thompson, Cindy A. Regal +5 more

We investigate the production efficiency of ultracold molecules in bosonic 85Rb and fermionic 40K when the magnetic field is swept across a Feshbach resonance. For adiabatic sweeps of the magnetic field, our novel model shows that the conversion efficiency of both species is solely determined by the phase space density of the atomic cloud, in contrast with a number of theoretical predictions. In the nonadiabatic regime our measurements of the 85Rb molecule conversion efficiency follow a Landau-Zener model.

arXiv:cond-mat/0411487•Physical Review Letters•Mar 30, 2005•145 citations

Production Efficiency of Ultracold Feshbach Molecules in Bosonic and Fermionic Systems

E. Hodby, Sarah T. Thompson, Cindy A. Regal +5 more

We investigate the production efficiency of ultracold molecules in bosonic 85 Rb and fermionic 40 K when the magnetic field is swept across a Feshbach resonance.For adiabatic sweeps of the magnetic field, the conversion efficiency of each species is solely determined by the phase space density of the atomic cloud, in contrast to a number of theoretical predictions.Our novel model for the adiabatic pairing process, developed from general physical principles, accurately predicts the conversion efficiency for both ultracold gases of bosons and of fermions.In the non-adiabatic regime our measurements of the 85 Rb molecule conversion efficiency follow a Landau Zener model, with a conversion efficiency that is characterized by the density divided by the time derivative of the magnetic field.

WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks•Jan 1, 2008•1 citation

Exploring Few-body Scattering Resonances in a Bose-Fermi Mixture: From Feshbach Dimers to Efimov Trimers

Tyler D. Cumby

This thesis presents experiments exploring Feshbach molecules and Efimov trimers in an ultracold Bose-Fermi atomic gas mixture of 40K and 87Rb. These bound states are accessed via scattering resonances, called Fano-Feshbach resonances, which arise as a consequence of a bound state being tuned through degeneracy with the threshold energy of colliding atoms. In addition to allowing the tunability of interactions, the Fano-Feshbach resonance allows for a weakly bound molecule state, called the Feshbach molecule state, to be populated. The efficiency of conversion to the Feshbach molecule state depends upon the rate with which the bound state energy is swept through degeneracy with atomic threshold energy. In regions of large scattering lengths, three-body bound states, called Efimov states, also influence inelastic Bose-Bose-Fermi collisions and boson+molecule collisions in our system. The work presented in this thesis utilizes a magnetically tunable Fano-Feshbach resonance to study Feshbach molecule creation in the perturbative limit (the limit of fast magnetic-field sweeps) and the saturated limit (the limit of slow sweeps), where a phenomenological model is applied to understand the conversion efficiency as well as the quantum degeneracy of the molecules. In addition, I present a study of boson+molecule collision rates and Bose-Bose-Fermi collision rates in order to observe signatures of Efimov states and compare against results in the gas mixture 41K-87Rb to address the question of universality of the three-body parameter in heteronuclear gas mixtures.

•Jan 1, 2012•0 citations

Ultracold Heteronuclear Fermi-Fermi Molecules

A.-C. Voigt, M. Taglieber, L. Costa +4 more

We report on the first creation of ultracold bosonic heteronuclear molecules of two fermionic species, 6Li and 40K, by a magnetic field sweep across an interspecies s-wave Feshbach resonance. This allows us to associate up to 4x10(4) molecules with high efficiencies of up to 50%. Using direct imaging of the molecules, we measure increased lifetimes of the molecules close to resonance of more than 100 ms in the molecule-atom mixture stored in a harmonic trap.

arXiv:0810.1306•Physical Review Letters•Jan 15, 2009•172 citations

Adiabatic association of ultracold molecules via magnetic-field tunable interactions

Krzysztof Góral, Thorsten Köhler, S. A. Gardiner +2 more

We consider in detail the situation of applying a time-dependent external magnetic field to a 87 Rb atomic Bose–Einstein condensate held in a harmonic trap, in order to adiabatically sweep the interatomic interactions across a Feshbach resonance to produce diatomic molecules. To this end, we introduce a minimal two-body Hamiltonian depending on just five measurable parameters of a Feshbach resonance, which accurately determines all low-energy binary scattering observables, in particular, the molecular conversion efficiency of just two atoms. Based on this description of the microscopic collision phenomena, we use the many-body theory of Köhler and Burnett (2002 Phys. Rev. A 65 033601) to study the efficiency of the association of molecules in a 87 Rb Bose–Einstein condensate during a linear passage of the magnetic-field strength across the 100 mT Feshbach resonance. We explore different, experimentally accessible, parameter regimes, and compare the predictions of Landau–Zener, configuration interaction, and two-level mean-field calculations with those of the microscopic many-body approach. Our comparative studies reveal a remarkable insensitivity of the molecular conversion efficiency with respect to both the details of the microscopic binary collision physics and the coherent nature of the Bose–Einstein condensed gas, provided that the magnetic-field strength is varied linearly. We provide the reasons for this universality of the molecular production achieved by linear ramps of the magnetic-field strength, and identify the Landau–Zener coefficient determined by Mies et al (2000 Phys. Rev. A 61 022721) as the main parameter that controls the efficiency.

arXiv:cond-mat/0312178•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Aug 24, 2004•102 citations
We explain why the experimental efficiency observed in the conversion of ultracold Fermi gases of 40K and 6Li atoms into diatomic Bose gases is limited to 0.5 when the Feshbach resonance sweep rate is sufficiently slow to pass adiabatically through the Landau-Zener transition but faster than "the collision rate" in the gas, and increases beyond 0.5 when it is slower. The 0.5 efficiency limit is due to the preparation of a statistical mixture of two spin states, required to enable s-wave scattering. By constructing the many-body state of the system we show that this preparation yields a mixture of even and odd parity pair states, where only even parity can produce molecules. The odd parity spin-symmetric states must decorrelate before the constituent atoms can further Feshbach scatter, thereby increasing the conversion efficiency; "the collision rate" is the pair decorrelation rate.
We investigate magnetoassociation of ultracold fermionic Feshbach molecules in a mixture of 40{}^{40}40K and 87{}^{87}87Rb atoms, where we can create 40{}^{40}40K87{}^{87}87Rb molecules with a conversion efficiency as high as 45%. In the limit of fast magnetic sweeps and small molecule fraction, we find that the time scale of molecule production is accurately predicted by a parameter-free model that uses only the atomic densities, masses, and the known Feshbach resonance parameters. We find that molecule production efficiency saturates for slower magnetic sweeps, at which point the maximum number of Feshbach molecules depends primarily on the atoms' phase-space density. At higher temperatures, our measurements agree with a phenomenological model that successfully describes the formation of bosonic molecules from either Bose or Fermi gases. However, for quantum degenerate atom gas mixtures, we measure significantly fewer molecules than this model predicts.
We investigate the production efficiency of ultracold molecules in bosonic 85Rb and fermionic 40K when the magnetic field is swept across a Feshbach resonance. For adiabatic sweeps of the magnetic field, our novel model shows that the conversion efficiency of both species is solely determined by the phase space density of the atomic cloud, in contrast with a number of theoretical predictions. In the nonadiabatic regime our measurements of the 85Rb molecule conversion efficiency follow a Landau-Zener model.
We investigate the production efficiency of ultracold molecules in bosonic 85 Rb and fermionic 40 K when the magnetic field is swept across a Feshbach resonance.For adiabatic sweeps of the magnetic field, the conversion efficiency of each species is solely determined by the phase space density of the atomic cloud, in contrast to a number of theoretical predictions.Our novel model for the adiabatic pairing process, developed from general physical principles, accurately predicts the conversion efficiency for both ultracold gases of bosons and of fermions.In the non-adiabatic regime our measurements of the 85 Rb molecule conversion efficiency follow a Landau Zener model, with a conversion efficiency that is characterized by the density divided by the time derivative of the magnetic field.
This thesis presents experiments exploring Feshbach molecules and Efimov trimers in an ultracold Bose-Fermi atomic gas mixture of 40K and 87Rb. These bound states are accessed via scattering resonances, called Fano-Feshbach resonances, which arise as a consequence of a bound state being tuned through degeneracy with the threshold energy of colliding atoms. In addition to allowing the tunability of interactions, the Fano-Feshbach resonance allows for a weakly bound molecule state, called the Feshbach molecule state, to be populated. The efficiency of conversion to the Feshbach molecule state depends upon the rate with which the bound state energy is swept through degeneracy with atomic threshold energy. In regions of large scattering lengths, three-body bound states, called Efimov states, also influence inelastic Bose-Bose-Fermi collisions and boson+molecule collisions in our system. The work presented in this thesis utilizes a magnetically tunable Fano-Feshbach resonance to study Feshbach molecule creation in the perturbative limit (the limit of fast magnetic-field sweeps) and the saturated limit (the limit of slow sweeps), where a phenomenological model is applied to understand the conversion efficiency as well as the quantum degeneracy of the molecules. In addition, I present a study of boson+molecule collision rates and Bose-Bose-Fermi collision rates in order to observe signatures of Efimov states and compare against results in the gas mixture 41K-87Rb to address the question of universality of the three-body parameter in heteronuclear gas mixtures.
We consider in detail the situation of applying a time-dependent external magnetic field to a 87 Rb atomic Bose–Einstein condensate held in a harmonic trap, in order to adiabatically sweep the interatomic interactions across a Feshbach resonance to produce diatomic molecules. To this end, we introduce a minimal two-body Hamiltonian depending on just five measurable parameters of a Feshbach resonance, which accurately determines all low-energy binary scattering observables, in particular, the molecular conversion efficiency of just two atoms. Based on this description of the microscopic collision phenomena, we use the many-body theory of Köhler and Burnett (2002 Phys. Rev. A 65 033601) to study the efficiency of the association of molecules in a 87 Rb Bose–Einstein condensate during a linear passage of the magnetic-field strength across the 100 mT Feshbach resonance. We explore different, experimentally accessible, parameter regimes, and compare the predictions of Landau–Zener, configuration interaction, and two-level mean-field calculations with those of the microscopic many-body approach. Our comparative studies reveal a remarkable insensitivity of the molecular conversion efficiency with respect to both the details of the microscopic binary collision physics and the coherent nature of the Bose–Einstein condensed gas, provided that the magnetic-field strength is varied linearly. We provide the reasons for this universality of the molecular production achieved by linear ramps of the magnetic-field strength, and identify the Landau–Zener coefficient determined by Mies et al (2000 Phys. Rev. A 61 022721) as the main parameter that controls the efficiency.