Resonant Magnetic Field Control of Elastic Scattering in Cold<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:mmultiscripts><mml:mrow><mml:mi>R</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mprescripts /><mml:mrow /><mml:mrow><mml:mn>85</mml:mn></mml:mrow><mml:mrow /><mml:mrow /></mml:mmultiscripts></mml:mrow><mml:mi>b</mml:mi></mml:math>

Jacob Roberts, N. R. Claussen, J. P. Burke, Chris H. Greene, Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman

Abstract

A magnetic field-dependent Feshbach resonance has been observed in the elastic scattering collision rate between atoms in the $F\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}2,M\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\ensuremath{-}2$ state of ${}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$. Changing the magnetic field by several Gauss caused the collision rate to vary by a factor of 1${0}^{4}$, and the sign of the scattering length could be reversed. The resonance peak is at 155.2(4) G and its width is 11.6(5) G. From these results we extract much improved values for the three quantities that characterize the interaction potential: The van der Waals coefficient ${C}_{6}$, the singlet scattering length ${a}_{S}$, and the triplet scattering length ${a}_{T}$.

Locations

• Physical Review Letters - View
• arXiv (Cornell University) - View - PDF