Feshbach resonances and molecule formation in ultracold mixtures of Rb andYb(P3)atoms

Abstract

We have investigated magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances in ultracold collisions of Rb with Yb in its metastable 3 P 2 and 3 P 0 states, using coupled-channel scattering and bound-state calculations. For the 3 P 2 state, we find sharp resonances when both atoms are in their lowest Zeeman sublevels. However, these resonances are decayed by inelastic processes that produce Yb atoms in 3 P 1 and 3 P 0 states. The molecules that might be produced by magnetoassociation at the 3 P 2 thresholds can decay by similar pathways and would have lifetimes no more than a few microseconds. For the 3 P 0 state, by contrast, there are resonances that are promising for magnetoassociation. There are resonances due to both rotating and nonrotating molecular states that are significantly stronger than the analogous resonances for Yb( 1 S). The ones due to rotating states are denser in magnetic field; in contrast to Yb( 1 S), they exist even for bosonic isotopes of Yb( 3 P 0 ).