The Efimov effect, with its ladder of weakly bound three-atomic molecules, poses intriguing questions in the theoretically controversial and experimentally demanding regime of merging of the first excited Efimov energy level with the atom-dimer continuum. Using an original experimental technique, where a coherent superposition state of diatomic and triatomic molecules is utilized, we investigate this regime and reveal a striking behavior: Instead of merging with the atom-dimer continuum the trimer energy level rebounds from it and becomes a deeper bound state again. In addition, instead of a tangential approach between the two levels we observe a rather narrow resonance, providing a new challenge and guide for few-body theories to incorporate realistic interatomic potentials.
A powerful experimental technique to study Efimov physics at positive scattering lengths is demonstrated. We use the Feshbach dimers as a local reference for Efimov trimers by creating a coherent superposition of both states. Measurement of its coherent evolution provides information on the binding energy of the trimers with unprecedented precision and yields access to previously inaccessible parameters of the system such as the Efimov trimers' lifetime and the elastic processes between atoms and the constituents of the superposition state. We develop a comprehensive data analysis suitable for…
A universal dimer is subject to secondary collisions with atoms when formed in a cloud of ultracold atoms via three-body recombination. We show that in a collisionally opaque medium, the value of the scattering length that results in the maximum number of secondary collisions may not correspond to the Efimov resonance at the atom-dimer threshold and thus can not be automatically associated with it. This result explains a number of controversies in recent experimental results on universal three-body states and supports the emerging evidence for the significant finite range corrections to the fi…
We discuss our recent observation of an atom-dimer Efimov resonance in an ultracold mixture of Cs atoms and Cs_2 Feshbach molecules [Nature Phys. 5, 227 (2009)]. We review our experimental procedure and present additional data involving a non-universal g-wave dimer state, to contrast our previous results on the universal s-wave dimer. We resolve a seeming discrepancy when quantitatively comparing our experimental findings with theoretical results from effective field theory.
The multichannel Efimov physics is investigated in ultracold heteronuclear admixtures of K and Rb atoms. We observe a shift in the scattering length where the first atom-dimer resonance appears in the $^{41}$K-$^{87}$Rb system relative to the position of the previously observed atom-dimer resonance in the $^{40}$K-$^{87}$Rb system. This shift is well explained by our calculations with a three-body model including the van der Waals interactions, and, more importantly, the multichannel spinor physics. With only minor difference in the atomic masses of the admixtures, the shift in the atom-dimer …
We study the interspecies scattering properties of ultracold Li-Cs mixtures in their two energetically lowest spin channels in the magnetic field range between 800 G and 1000 G. Close to two broad Feshbach resonances we create weakly bound LiCs dimers by radio-frequency association and measure the dependence of the binding energy on the external magnetic field strength. Based on the binding energies and complementary atom loss spectroscopy of three other Li-Cs s-wave Feshbach resonances we construct precise molecular singlet and triplet electronic ground state potentials using a coupled-channe…
We observed an enhanced atom-dimer relaxation due to the existence of Efimov states in a three-component mixture of 6Li atoms. We measured the magnetic-field dependence of the atom-dimer loss coefficient in the mixture of atoms in state |1> and dimers formed in states |2> and |3>, and found two peaks corresponding to the degeneracy points of the |23> dimer energy level and energy levels of Efimov trimers. We found that the locations of these peaks disagree with universal theory predictions, in a way that cannot be explained by non-universal two-body properties. We constructed theoretical model…
An Efimov trimer near the atom-dimer threshold can increase the atom loss rate in ultracold trapped atoms through the {\it avalanche mechanism} proposed by Zaccanti et al. A 3-body recombination event creates an energetic atom and dimer, whose subsequent elastic collisions produce additional atoms with sufficient energy to escape from the trapping potential. We use Monte Carlo methods to calculate the average number of atoms lost and the average heat generated by recombination events in both a Bose-Einstein condensate and a thermal gas. We take into account the energy-dependence of the cross s…
Bosonic dimer-dimer scattering is studied near the unitary limit using momentum-space equations for the four-particle transition operators. The impact of the Efimov effect on the dimer-dimer scattering observables is explored and a number of universal relations is established with high accuracy. The rate for the creation of Efimov trimers via dimer-dimer collisions is calculated.
We develop an experimental technique for rf-association of Efimov trimers from three-atoms continuum. We apply it to probe the lowest accessible Efimov energy level in bosonic lithium in the region where strong deviations from the universal behavior are expected, and provide quantitative study of this effect. Position of the Efimov resonance at the atom-dimer threshold, measured with a different experimental technique, concurs with the rf-association results.
We convert a strongly interacting ultracold Bose gas into a mixture of atoms and molecules by sweeping the interactions from resonant to weak. By analyzing the decay dynamics of the molecular gas, we show that in addition to Feshbach dimers it contains Efimov trimers. Typically around 8\% of the total atomic population is bound into trimers, identified by their density-independent lifetime of about 100~$μ$s. The lifetime of the Feshbach dimers shows a density dependence due to inelastic atom-dimer collisions, in agreement with theoretical calculations. We also vary the density of the gas acros…
Lithium-6 atoms in the three lowest hyperfine states display universal properties when the S-wave scattering length between each pair of states is large. Recent experiments reported four pronounced features arising from Efimov physics in the atom-dimer relaxation rate, namely two resonances and two local minima. We use the universal effective field theory to calculate the atom-dimer relaxation rate at zero temperature. Our results describe the four features qualitatively and imply there is a hidden local minimum. In the vicinity of the resonance at 685 G, we perform a finite temperature calcul…
The mass-imbalanced three-body recombination process that forms a shallow dimer is shown to possess a rich Efimov-Stückelberg landscape, with corresponding spectra that differ fundamentally from the homonuclear case. A semi-analytical treatment of the three-body recombination predicts an unusual spectra with intertwined resonance peaks and minima, and yields in-depth insight into the behavior of the corresponding Efimov spectra. In particular, the patterns of the Efimov-Stückelberg landscape are shown to depend inherently on the degree of diabaticity of the three-body collisions, which strongl…
We study Efimov physics for three identical bosons interacting via a pairwise square-well potential, analyze the validity of the separable approximation as a function of the interaction strength, and investigate what is needed to improve this approximation. We find separable approximations to be accurate for potentials with just one (nearly) bound dimer state. For potentials with more bound or almost bound dimer states, these states need to be included for an accurate determination of the Efimov spectrum and the corresponding three-body observables. We also show that a separable approximation …
Using the framework of effective field theory, we present a detailed study of the Efimov effect in higher partial waves for systems of two identical particles and a third distinguishable particle. Depending on the total angular momentum $L$, the two identical particles must be bosons or fermions. We derive analytical expressions for the elastic and inelastic atom-dimer scattering cross sections as well as the atom-dimer relaxation rate at the dimer breakup threshold. For the experimentally most relevant case of P-waves, we numerically calculate the atom-dimer scattering cross sections and rela…
Ultracold gases of three distinguishable particles with large scattering lengths are expected to show rich few-body physics related to the Efimov effect. We have created three different mixtures of ultracold 6Li atoms and weakly bound 6Li2 dimers consisting of atoms in three different hyperfine states and studied their inelastic decay via atom-dimer collisions. We have found resonant enhancement of the decay due to the crossing of Efimov-like trimer states with the atom-dimer continuum in one mixture as well as minima of the decay in another mixture, which we interpret as a suppression of exch…
We consider three-body recombination into deep dimers in a mass-imbalanced two-component atomic gas. We use an optical model where a phenomenological imaginary potential is added to the lowest adiabatic hyper-spherical potential. The consequent imaginary part of the energy eigenvalue corresponds to the decay rate or recombination probability of the three-body system. The method is formulated in details and the relevant qualitative features are discussed as functions of scattering lengths and masses. We use zero-range model in analyses of recent recombination data. The dominating scattering len…
A new narrow 3-atom loss resonance associated with an Efimov trimer crossing the 3-atom threshold has recently been discovered in a many-body system of ultracold 6Li atoms in the three lowest hyperfine spin states at a magnetic field near 895 G. O'Hara and coworkers have used measurements of the 3-body recombination rate in this region to determine the complex 3-body parameter associated with Efimov physics. Using this parameter as the input, we calculate the universal predictions for the spectrum of Efimov states and for the 3-body recombination rate in the universal region above 600 G where …
The universal aspects of atom-dimer elastic collisions are investigated within the framework of Faddeev equations. The two-body interactions between the neutral atoms are approximated by the separable potential approach. Our analysis considers a pure van der Waals potential tail as well as soft-core van der Waals interactions permitting us in this manner to address the universally general features of atom-dimer resonant spectra. In particular, we show that the atom-dimer resonances are solely associated with the {\it excited} Efimov states. Furthermore, the positions of the corresponding reson…
The discrete Efimov scaling behavior, well-known in the low-energy spectrum of three-body bound systems for large scattering lengths (unitary limit), is identified in the energy dependence of atom-molecule elastic cross-section in mass imbalanced systems. That happens in the collision of a heavy atom with mass $m_H$ with a weakly-bound dimer formed by the heavy atom and a lighter one with mass $m_L \ll m_H$. Approaching the heavy-light unitary limit the $s-$wave elastic cross-section $σ$ will present a sequence of zeros/minima at collision energies following closely the Efimov geometrical law.…
Unstable four-boson states having an approximate dimer-atom-atom structure are studied using momentum-space integral equations for the four-particle transition operators. For a given Efimov trimer the universal properties of the lowest associated tetramer are determined. The impact of this tetramer on the atom-trimer and dimer-dimer collisions is analyzed. The reliability of the three-body dimer-atom-atom model is studied.
We study the universality of the three-body parameters for systems relevant for ultracold quantum gases with positive $s$-wave two-body scattering lengths. Our results account for finite-range effects and their universality is tested by changing the number of deeply bound diatomic states supported by our interaction model. We find that the physics controlling the values of the three-body parameters associated with the ground and excited Efimov states is constrained by a variational principle and can be strongly affected by $d$-wave interactions that prevent both trimer states from merging into…
We study the collisional properties of an ultracold mixture of cesium atoms and dimers close to a Feshbach resonance near 550G in the regime of positive $s$-wave scattering lengths. We observe an atom-dimer loss resonance that is related to Efimov's scenario of trimer states. The resonance is found at a value of the scattering length that is different from a previous observation at low magnetic fields. This indicates non-universal behavior of the Efimov spectrum for positive scattering lengths. We compare our observations with predictions from effective field theory and with a recent model bas…
We explore the properties of weakly bound bosonic states in the strongly interacting regime. Combining a correlated-Gaussian (CG) basis set expansion with a complex scaling method, we extract the energies and structural properties of bosonic cluster states with $N\le6$ for different two-body potentials. The identification of five- and six-body resonances attached to an excited Efimov trimer provides strong support to the premise of Efimov universality in bosonic systems. Our study also reveals a rich structure of bosonic cluster states. Besides the lowest cluster states which behave as bosonic…
Spinor condensates have proven to be a rich area for probing many-body phenomena richer than that of an ultracold gas consisting of atoms restricted to a single spin state. In the strongly correlated regime, the physics controlling the possible novel phases of the condensate remains largely unexplored, and few-body aspects can play a central role in the properties and dynamics of the system through manifestations of Efimov physics. The present study solves the three-body problem for bosonic spinors using the hyperspherical adiabatic representation and characterizes the multiple families of Efi…
We study the two-body and three-body bound states in ultracold atomic mixtures with one of the atoms subjected to an isotropic spin-orbit (SO) coupling. We consider a system of two identical fermions interacting with one SO coupled atom. It is found that there can exist two types of three-body bound states, Efimov trimers and universal trimers. The Efimov trimers are energetically less favored by the SO coupling, which will finally merge into the atom-dimer threshold as increasing the SO coupling strength. Nevertheless, these trimers exhibit a new kind of discrete scaling law incorporating the…
Atom loss resonances in ultracold trapped atoms have been observed at scattering lengths near atom-dimer resonances, at which Efimov trimers cross the atom-dimer threshold, and near two-dimer resonances, at which universal tetramers cross the dimer-dimer threshold. We propose a new mechanism for these loss resonances in a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms. As the scattering length is ramped to the large final value at which the atom loss rate is measured, the time-dependent scattering length generates a small condensate of shallow dimers coherently from the atom condensate. The coexisting atom…
We investigate universal behavior in elastic atom-dimer scattering below the dimer breakup threshold calculating the atom-dimer effective-range function $ak\cotδ$. Using the He-He system as a reference, we solve the Schrödinger equation for a family of potentials having different values of the two-body scattering length $a$ and we compare our results to the universal zero-range form deduced by Efimov, $ak\cotδ=c_1(ka)+c_2(ka)\cot[s_0\ln(κ_*a)+ϕ(ka)]$, for selected values of the three-body parameter $κ_*$. Using the parametrization of the universal functions $c_1,c_2,ϕ$ given in the literature,…
Controlling the interactions between atoms with external fields opened up new branches in physics ranging from strongly correlated atomic systems to ideal Bose and Fermi gases and Efimov physics. Such control usually prepares samples that are stationary or evolve adiabatically in time. On the other hand, in molecular physics external ultrashort laser fields are employed to create anisotropic potentials that launch ultrafast rotational wave packets and align molecules in free space. Here we combine these two regimes of ultrafast times and low energies. We apply a short laser pulse to the helium…
In a system of ultracold atoms near a Feshbach resonance, pairs of atoms can be associated into universal dimers by an oscillating magnetic field with frequency near that determined by the dimer binding energy. We present a simple expression for the transition rate that takes into account many-body effects through a transition matrix element of the contact. In a thermal gas, the width of the peak in the transition rate as a function of the frequency is determined by the temperature. In a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms, the width is determined by the inelastic scattering rates of a di…
Small weakly-bound droplets determine a number of properties of ultracold Bose and Fermi gases. For example, Efimov trimers near the atom-atom-atom and atom-dimer thresholds lead to enhanced losses from bosonic clouds. Generalizations to four- and higher-body systems have also been considered. Moreover, Efimov trimers have been predicted to play a role in the Bose polaron with large boson-impurity scattering length. Motivated by these considerations, the present work provides a detailed theoretical analysis of weakly-bound $N$-body clusters consisting of $N-1$ identical bosons (denoted by "B")…
The Efimov effect in heteronuclear cold atomic systems is experimentally more easily accessible than the Efimov effect for identical atoms, because of the potentially smaller scaling factor. We focus on the case of two or three heavy identical bosons and another atom. The former case was recently observed in a mixture of 133Cs and 6Li atoms. We employ the Gaussian Expansion Method as developed by Hiyama, Kino et al.. This is a variational method that uses Gaussians that are distributed geometrically over a chosen range. Supplemental calculations are performed using the Skorniakov-Ter-Martirosi…
Atom-dimer exchange and dissociation reaction rates are predicted for different combinations of two $^4$He atoms and one of the alkaline species among $^{6}$Li, $^{7}$Li and $^{23}$Na, by using three-body scattering formalism with short-range two-body interactions. Our study was concerned with low-energy reaction rates in which the $s-$, $p-$ and $d-$ wave contributions are the relevant ones. The $^4$He is chosen as one of the atoms in the binary mixture, in view of previous available investigations and laboratory accessibilities. Focusing on possible experimental cold-atom realizations with t…
We use the diagrammatic $T$-matrix approach to analyze the three-body scattering problem between two identical fermions and a third particle (which could be a different species of fermion or a boson). We calculate the s-wave dimer-atom scattering length for all mass ratios, and our results exactly match the results of Petrov. In particular, we list the exact dimer-atom scattering lengths for all available two-species Fermi-Fermi and Bose-Fermi mixtures. In addition, unlike that of the equal-mass particles case where the three-body scattering $T$-matrix decays monotonically as a function of the…
In several experiments with ultracold trapped atoms, a narrow loss feature has been observed near an {\it atom-dimer resonance}, at which there is an Efimov trimer at the atom-dimer threshold. The conventional interpretation of these loss features is that they are produced by the {\it avalanche mechanism}, in which the energetic atom and dimer from 3-body recombination undergo secondary elastic collisions that produce additional atoms with sufficient energy to escape from the trapping potential. We use Monte Carlo methods to calculate the average number of atoms lost and the average heat gener…
Since the $^4$He dimer supports only one weakly bound state with an average interatomic distance much larger than the van der Waals length and no deeply bound states, $^4$He$_N$ clusters with $N>2$ are a paradigmatic model system with which to explore foundational concepts such as large $s$-wave scattering length universality, van der Waals universality, Efimov physics, and effective field theories. This work presents structural properties such as the pair and triple distribution functions, the hyperradial density, the probability to find the $N$th particle at a given distance from the center …
