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arXiv:cond-mat/0603607 · Physical Review Letters

Enhanced Sensitivity to Fundamental Constants In Ultracold Atomic and Molecular Systems near Feshbach Resonances

Cheng Chin, V. V. Flambaum

Published Jun 15, 2006• 66 citations
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Abstract

Scattering length, which can be measured in Bose-Einstein condensate and Feshbach molecule experiments, is extremely sensitive to the variation of fundamental constants, in particular, the electron-to-proton mass ratio (m(e)/m(p) or m(e)/Lambda(QCD), where Lambda(QCD), is the QCD scale). Based on single- and two-channel scattering models, we show how the variation of the mass ratio propagates to the scattering length. Our results suggest that variation of m(e)/m(p) on the level of 10(-11) - 10(-14) on the level of can be detected near a narrow magnetic or an optical Feshbach resonance by monitoring the scattering length on the 1% level. Derived formulas may also be used to estimate the isotopic shift of the scattering length.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.96.230801

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Scattering length, which can be measured in Bose-Einstein condensate and Feshbach molecule experiments, is extremely sensitive to the variation of fundamental constants, in particular, the electron-to-proton mass ratio (m(e)/m(p) or m(e)/Lambda(QCD), where Lambda(QCD), is the QCD scale). Based on single- and two-channel scattering models, we show how the variation of the mass ratio propagates to the scattering length. Our results suggest that variation of m(e)/m(p) on the level of 10(-11) - 10(-14) on the level of can be detected near a narrow magnetic or an optical Feshbach resonance by monitoring the scattering length on the 1% level. Derived formulas may also be used to estimate the isotopic shift of the scattering length.
We present numerical calculations for cesium and mercury to estimate the sensitivity of the scattering length to the variation of the fine-structure constant $\ensuremath{\alpha}$. The method used follows the ideas of Chin and Flambaum [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 230801 (2006)], where the sensitivity to the variation of the electron-to-proton mass ratio $\ensuremath{\beta}$ was considered. We demonstrate that for heavy systems, the sensitivity to the variation of $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ is of the same order of magnitude as to the variation of $\ensuremath{\beta}$. Near narrow Feshbach resonances, the enhancement of the sensitivity may exceed nine orders of magnitude.
Ultracold molecules offer brand new opportunities to probe the variation of fundamental constants with unprecedented sensitivity. This paper summarizes theoretical background and current constraints on the variation of the fine structure constant and electron-to-proton mass ratio, as well as proposals and experimental efforts to measure the variations based on ultracold molecules. In particular, we describe two novel spectroscopic schemes on ultracold molecules that have greatly enhanced sensitivity to fundamental constants: resonant scattering near Feshbach resonances and spectroscopy on close-lying energy levels of ultracold molecules.
We report on a proposal to reduce the group velocity of a small ``laser'' Bose-Einstein condensate upon passing through a larger ``medium'' condensate of the same isotopic species in analogy to slowing of light passing through dispersive media. We make use of ultracold collisions near a magnetic Feshbach resonance, which gives rise to a sharp variation in scattering length with collision energy and thereby changes the group velocity. A generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation is used to derive an expression for the group velocity in a homogeneous medium as well as for the spatial delay $\ensuremath{\delta}$, through a finite-sized medium BEC with a Thomas-Fermi density distribution. We predict a maximum reduction of the group velocity by a half, which physically corresponds to freely propagating Feshbach molecules. For typical narrow Feshbach resonances and a medium with number density 1015{10}^{15}1015 cm${}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, up to 8585%85 of the lower bound can be achieved, making the effect experimentally observable. We also derive constraints on the experimental realization of our proposal.
The research described in this thesis is part of an international effort with the aim of studying ultracold quantum degenerate gas samples like Bose-Einstein condensates and Fermi degenerate systems, consisting of atoms confined in magnetic or optical traps. The behavior of such samples is governed by the inter-atomic interactions and the resulting properties of the atom-atom scattering. At the relevant temperatures of 1nK to 10µK a key property is the atom-atom scattering length a. In chapter 2 a theoretical method is presented which enables one to describe the interaction and scattering of (ultra)cold atoms to unprecedented precision. It is also unparalleled in comprehensiveness: it allows the prediction of a large and varied set of experimental data for all isotopes of the same element. The method relies on the extraction from experiments of a few (phase) parameters which completely summarize the behavior of the atoms in the (ultra)cold regime. In chapter 3 the method is applied to the "workhorses" of cold-atom physics: the atomic species 85Rb and 87Rb. We extract the foregoing parameters to a very high precision from several recent high precision experiments, allowing us to predict e.g. the 87Rb spinor condensate to be ferromagnetic: a prediction for which the scattering length has to be calculated with a precision better than 1%. We also predict Feshbach resonances at experimentally accessible magnetic field strengths; resonances searched for and found by the experimental group of Rempe. In close collaboration with his group we "fine-tune" the interaction parameters found previously, by making use of only one of the observed resonances. We then obtain agreement with 42 out of the observed 43 resonance field strengths and are able to identify bound states inducing the Feshbach resonances at these locations. Chapter 4 describes the results of this research. With a thorough understanding of the rubidium interactions, we then switch to lithium which has a fermionic (6Li) and a bosonic (7Li) isotope. Both are being used in cold-atom experiments. In chapter 5 we evaluate the interaction parameters for lithium allowing us to predict magnetic field strengths for which a sample of fermionic 6Li atoms can be regarded as strongly interacting. Furthermore, a three-level method for measuring mean-field shifts, based on radio-frequency techniques, is introduced. For weak interactions we find proportionality of resonance shifts to interaction strengths. In the strongly interacting regime, however, these shifts become very small reflecting the quantum unitarity limit and many-body effects. Most interesting is the fact that in this regime the shifts are small both for large positive a and for large negative a, likely reflecting the universality of the interaction energy. In chapters 6 and 7 the interactions between lithium atoms are reinvestigated, making use of newly available experimental data and with the updated interaction parameters special attention is paid to locating field strengths at which magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances occur in the scattering of lithium atoms. In chapter 6 scattering events in a gas of (fermionic) 6Li atoms are studied. In chapter 7 we show that a consistent description of the 6Li+6Li system can be given. We discuss theoretical uncertainties for the position of the wide 6Li Feshbach resonance and present an analytic scattering model for this resonance, based on the inclusion of a field-dependent virtual open-channel state. We predict new Feshbach resonances for the 6Li-7Li system, and their importance for different types of crossover superfluidity models is discussed. Molecules created by magnetically sweeping over these resonances will have a fermionic character. One magnetic field strength is predicted at which two different fermionic molecules can be created simultaneously.
This thesis reports on the first observation of optical tuning of interactions in an ultracold atomic gas. To control the elastic interactions, we use optically induced scattering resonances. They are realized by coupling pairs of atoms to a bound molecular state with the help of laser light. In comparison to the well-known magnetic Feshbach resonances, these optical Feshbach resonances allow a very fast switching of interactions in a spatially resolved way. This is because laser light can be switched on and off much faster than magnetic fields and because the light intensity can be spatially structured. Our experiments are performed with a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of Rb atoms, which we produce in our new BEC setup. This apparatus has been constructed in the framework of this thesis and offers excellent optical access to the ultracold atom cloud. To investigate the tunability of atomic interactions with single-frequency laser light, we optically couple pairs of free atoms to an electronically excited molecular state. The coupling is achieved with a laser that is tuned close to the respective free-bound photoassociation transition. By changing the laser detuning we are able to adjust the atomic scattering length to any value between 10 a0 and 190 a0, where a0 denotes the Bohr radius. The atomic scattering length is a single quantity that fully describes ultracold elastic interactions. Since laser induced atom losses restrict the duration of our experiments, Bragg spectroscopy is employed as a fast method to measure the scattering length. We also demonstrate that optical Feshbach resonances can be realized with a two-color Raman coupling scheme. To implement this scheme, a second laser is added that couples the excited molecular state to a weakly bound molecular level in a ground state potential. Tuning the second laser results in a modification of the atomic scattering length similar to the one observed with a single laser. In addition, this scheme allows to control the width of the resonance via the detuning of the first laser. For the one-color and two-color coupling schemes, we investigate how the elastic scattering properties depend on the different available parameters, i.e. the laser detunings and intensities. Our experimental findings can successfully be described with an available theoretical model, which treats ultracold collisions in the presence of laser light. Optical Feshbach resonances have the possibility of becoming a valuable tool for fast switching of interactions. This is of special interest in quantum computation schemes with neutral atoms, where interactions between different atomic qubits need to be controlled.
Ultracold atomic gases have realized numerous paradigms of condensed matter physics, where control over interactions has crucially been afforded by tunable Feshbach resonances. So far, the characterization of these Feshbach resonances has almost exclusively relied on experiments in the threshold regime near zero energy. Here, we use a laser-based collider to probe a narrow magnetic Feshbach resonance of rubidium above threshold. By measuring the overall atomic loss from colliding clouds as a function of magnetic field, we track the energy-dependent resonance position. At higher energy, our collider scheme broadens the loss feature, making the identification of the narrow resonance challenging. However, we observe that the collisions give rise to shifts in the center-of-mass positions of outgoing clouds. The shifts cross zero at the resonance and this allows us to accurately determine its location well above threshold. Our inferred resonance positions are in excellent agreement with theory.Studies on energy-dependent scattering of ultracold atoms were previously carried out near zero collision energies. Here, the authors observe a magnetic Feshbach resonance in ultracold Rb collisions for above-threshold energies and their method can also be used to detect higher partial wave resonances.