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arXiv:cond-mat/0409192 · Physical Review Letters

Molecular Production in Two Component Atomic Fermi Gases

Jan Chwedeńczuk, Krzysztof Góral, Thorsten Köhler, Paul S. Julienne

Published Dec 20, 2004• 24 citations
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Abstract

We provide a practical approach to the molecular production via linear downward sweeps of Feshbach resonances in degenerate Fermi gases containing incoherent mixtures of two atomic spin states. We show that the efficiency of the association of atoms is determined just by the Landau-Zener parameter in addition to the density of the gas. Our approach of pairwise summation of the microscopic binary transition probabilities leads to an intuitive explanation for the observed saturation of the molecular production and recovers all atomic loss curves of Regal et al. [Nature (London) 427, 47 (2003))]] as well as Strecker et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 080406 (2003))]] without adjustable parameters.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.93.260403

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We provide a practical approach to the molecular production via linear downward sweeps of Feshbach resonances in degenerate Fermi gases containing incoherent mixtures of two atomic spin states. We show that the efficiency of the association of atoms is determined just by the Landau-Zener parameter in addition to the density of the gas. Our approach of pairwise summation of the microscopic binary transition probabilities leads to an intuitive explanation for the observed saturation of the molecular production and recovers all atomic loss curves of Regal et al. [Nature (London) 427, 47 (2003))]] as well as Strecker et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 080406 (2003))]] without adjustable parameters.
In this thesis I present a nonequilibrium quantum field theory that describes the\nproduction of molecular dimers from a two-component quantum-degenerate atomic\nFermi gas, via a linear downward sweep of a magnetic field across an s-wave Feshbach\nresonance. This problem raises interest because it is presently unclear as to why\ndeviations from the universal Landau-Zener formula for the transition probability at\ntwo-level crossing are observed in the experimentally measured production efficiencies.\nThe approach is based on evaluating real-time Green functions within the Keldysh-\nSchwinger formalism. The effects of quantum statistics associated with Pauli blocking\nfor fermions and induced emission for bosons, characteristic of particle scattering in\na quantum-degenerate many-body medium, are fully accounted for. I show that the\nmolecular conversion efficiency is represented by a power series in terms of a dimensionless\nparameter which, in the zero-temperature limit, depends solely on the initial\ngas density and the Landau-Zener parameter. This result reveals a hindrance of the\ncanonical Landau-Zener transition probability due to many-body effects, and presents\nan explanation for the experimentally observed deviations.\nA second topic treated in this thesis concerns the study of non-adiabatic transitions\nin N-state Landau-Zener systems. In connection to this, I provide a proof of\nthe conjecture put forth by Brundobler and Elser, regarding the survival probability\non the diabatic levels with maximum/minimum slope.
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.
Magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances were employed to associate cold diatomic molecules in a series of experiments involving both atomic Bose and two-spin-component Fermi gases. This review illustrates theoretical concepts of both the particular nature of the highly excited Feshbach molecules produced and the techniques for their association from unbound atom pairs. Coupled-channels theory provides a rigorous formulation of the microscopic physics of Feshbach resonances in cold gases. Concepts of dressed versus bare energy states, universal properties of Feshbach molecules, and the classification in terms of entrance- and closed-channel-dominated resonances are introduced on the basis of practical two-channel approaches. Their significance is illustrated for several experimental observations, such as binding energies and lifetimes with respect to collisional relaxation. Molecular association and dissociation are discussed in the context of techniques involving linear magnetic-field sweeps in cold Bose and Fermi gases and pulse sequences leading to Ramsey-type interference fringes. Their descriptions in terms of Landau-Zener, two-level mean-field, as well as beyond mean-field approaches are reviewed in detail, including the associated ranges of validity.
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.
\n The problem of molecular production from a degenerate gas of fermions at a broad Feshbach resonance, in a single-mode approximation, is reduced to the linear Landau-Zener problem for operators. The strong interaction and induced coherence lead to significant renormalization of the gap between adiabatic levels. The essential region of energies near the resonance contributing to the atom-molecule transformation strongly exceeds the Fermi energy of the weakly interacting gas. The close vicinity of the exact resonance does not play as substantial a role as in the static problem. Our main results are: i) The molecular production is sensitive to the initial magnetic field. ii) In the inverse process of molecule dissociation a large BCS condensate distributed over a broad range of momenta is generated.\n
The problem of molecular production from a degenerate gas of fermions at a broad Feshbach resonance, in a single-mode approximation, is reduced to the linear Landau-Zener problem for operators. The strong interaction and induced coherence lead to significant renormalization of the gap between adiabatic levels. The essential region of energies near the resonance contributing to the atom-molecule transformation strongly exceeds the Fermi energy of the weakly interacting gas. The close vicinity of the exact resonance does not play as substantial a role as in the static problem. Our main results are: i) The molecular production is sensitive to the initial magnetic field. ii) In the inverse process of molecule dissociation a large BCS condensate distributed over a broad range of momenta is generated.