Photoassociative production of ultracold heteronuclearYbLi*molecules

Abstract

We report on the production of ultracold heteronuclear YbLi* molecules in a dual-species magnetooptical trap by photoassociation (PA). The formation of the electronically excited molecules close to dissociation was observed by trap loss spectroscopy. We find 4 rovibrational states within a range of 250 GHz below the Yb( 1 S0) + Li( 2 P 1/2 ) asymptote and observe isotopic PA line shifts in mixtures of 6 Li with 174 Yb, 172 Yb, and 176 Yb. We also describe our theoretical ab-initio calculation for the relevant electronic potentials and utilize it to analyze and identify the lines in the experimentally observed spectrum.

Observation of a Degenerate Fermi Gas Trapped by a Bose-Einstein Condensate

“…Mixtures of atomic quantum gases serve as an exciting platform to study a rich variety of physics, such as the observation of heteronuclear molecules [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], Bose and Fermi polarons [8][9][10][11][12], and superfluid mixtures [13][14][15]. Novel quantum phases have be suggested theoretically [16][17][18][19] and probed experimentally [20][21][22][23].…”

Laser and Fourier-transform spectroscopy of KCa

“…references [1][2][3]) for testing and/or demonstrating fundamental properties of quantum gases. After investigating LiCa [4] and LiSr [5], we proceeded to the heavier KCa for opening perspectives for spectroscopic studies of even heavier species like RbSr for which already ultracold ensembles of Rb and Sr were prepared [2].…”

Spin dependent inelastic collisions between metastable state two-electron atoms and ground state alkali-atoms

“…In this context interest sparked in quantum degenerate mixtures of bosonic ytterbium (Yb) and fermionic lithium (Li) as a prime candidate to experimentally implement impurity systems. In addition, when forming dimers built-up of Yb and Li due to the combination of alkaline-earth-like atoms (Yb) and alkali ones (Li) spin-doublet molecules [6], building blocks of envisioned spin-lattice quantum simulators [7], can be realized. More recently the exploration of mixed-dimensional systems [8] and even topological superfluids [9] have also been proposed.…”

“…In the research detailed in the present paper we study inelastic collisional properties between localized 174 Yb( P 3 2 ) atoms immersed in a Fermi sea of 6 Li. We employ a species specific, three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice and control the internal states of Yb by using selective excitation and those of Li by means of optical pumping.…”