Abstract
We investigate Feshbach resonances in collisions of high-spin atoms such as Er and Dy with closed-shell atoms such as Sr and Yb, using coupled-channel scattering and bound-state calculations. We consider both low-anisotropy and high-anisotropy limits. In both regimes, we find many resonances with a wide variety of widths. The wider resonances are suitable for tuning interatomic interactions, while some of the narrower resonances are highly suitable for magnetoassociation to form high-spin molecules. These molecules might be transferred to short-range states, where they would have large magnetic moments and electric dipole moments that can be induced with very low electric fields. The results offer the opportunity to study mixed quantum gases where one species is dipolar and the other is not and open up important prospects for a new field of ultracold high-spin polar molecules.
- Received 21 October 2019
- Revised 12 March 2020
- Accepted 22 July 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.041005
Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.
Published by the American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Popular Summary
Ultracold dipolar matter exhibits many fascinating many-body phenomena and novel condensed phases. These effects are currently studied using heteronuclear molecules with electric dipole moments and high-spin atoms with large magnetic moments. We propose combining the strengths of these two platforms to create high-spin molecules with both electric and magnetic dipole moments. Such molecules are expected to allow simulation of important problems in quantum magnetism, open up new opportunities for scalable quantum computers, and may exhibit new types of phase transitions resulting from the competition between electric and magnetic interactions.
We study collisions between high-spin atoms and closed-shell atoms, and we focus on magnetic Feshbach resonances, which occur when the energy of a molecular bound state is tuned by a magnetic field to match the scattering energy of free atoms. We show that such systems will have numerous resonances, with a variety of widths, at moderate magnetic fields. This is true even for the minimum degree of coupling that is likely in these systems. Such resonances are guaranteed to exist whatever the details of the short-range potential. Some of the resonances will be suitable for tuning interactions in mixtures and some will be suitable for converting pairs of free atoms into weakly bound molecules.
Our theoretical predictions will stimulate and direct experimental work in two different areas. They open the way to the formation of high-spin molecules with both electric and magnetic dipoles and they introduce a new class of tunable atomic mixture, which is expected to show rich phase behavior.
