Ramsey fringes in a Bose-Einstein condensate between atoms and molecules

Atom loss resonances in a Bose-Einstein condensate

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 and dimer condensates can be described by a low-energy effective field theory with universal coefficients that are determined by matching exact results from few-body physics. The classical field equations for the atom and dimer condensates predict narrow enhancements in the atom loss rate near atom-dimer resonances and near two-dimer resonances due to inelastic dimer collisions.

Macroscopic atom-molecule dark state and its collective excitations in fermionic systems

We show that a robust macroscopic atom-molecule dark state can exist in fermionic systems, which represents a coherent superposition between the ground molecular Bose-Einstein condensates and the atomic BCS paired state. We take advantage of the tunability offered by external laser fields, and explore this superposition for demonstrating coherent oscillations between ground molecules and atom pairs. We interpret the oscillation frequencies in terms of the collective excitations of the dark state.

Pseudopotential analog for zero-range photoassociation and Feshbach resonance

A zero-range approach to atom-molecule coupling is developed in analogy to the Fermi-Huang pseudopotential approach to collisions. It is shown by explicit comparison to an exactly solvable finite-range model that replacing the molecular bound-state wave function with a regularized delta function can reproduce the exact scattering amplitude in the long-wavelength limit. Using this approach, we find an analytical solution to the two-channel Feshbach resonance problem for two atoms in a spherical harmonic trap, highlighting the strong dependence of the effective scattering length and bare-molecule population on the atom-molecule coupling strength.

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations via dissociation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate

Recent experimental measurements of atomic intensity correlations through atom shot noise suggest that atomic quadrature phase correlations may soon be measured with a similar precision. We propose a test of local realism with mesoscopic numbers of massive particles based on such measurements. Using dissociation of a Bose-Einstein condensate of diatomic molecules into bosonic atoms, we demonstrate that strongly entangled atomic beams may be produced which possess Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlations in field quadratures in direct analogy to the position and momentum correlations originally considered by EPR.

Simple mean-field theory for a zero-temperature fermionic gas at a Feshbach resonance

We present a simple two-channel mean-field theory for a zero-temperature two-component Fermi gas in the neighborhood of a Feshbach resonance. Our results agree with recent experiments on the bare-molecule fraction as a function of magnetic field [Partridge, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 020404 (2005)]. Even in this strongly coupled gas of 6Li, the experimental results depend on the structure of the molecules formed in the Feshbach resonance and, therefore, are not universal.

Complex chemical potential: signature of decay in a bose-einstein condensate

We explore the zero-temperature statics of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in which a Feshbach resonance creates a coupling to a second condensate component of quasibound molecules. Using a variational procedure to find the equation of state, the appearance of this binding is manifest in a collapsing ground state, where only the molecular condensate is present up to some critical density. Further, an excited state is seen to reproduce the usual low-density atomic condensate behavior in this system, but the molecular component is found to produce a coherent, many-body decay, quantified by the imaginary part of the chemical potential. Most importantly, the unique decay rate dependencies on density (approximately rho (3/2)) and on scattering length (approximately (5/2)) can be measured in experimental tests of this result.

Tuning indistinguishability in Bose-Einstein condensation and new atomic states

The concept of indistinguishability is the key element in quantum statistics. But, are particles really either indistinguishable or distinguishable? Most works begin with the premise that all the particles, for example, in a quantum gas, are indistinguishable. Can we vary the degree of distinguishability in some controlled, continuous manner and see how it affects the behavior of the quantum gas, such as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)? We have found a complex parameter with a definite phase that does just that. As it deviates from zero, a gas mixture of originally indistinguishable bosons would divide into several distinct species that undergo BEC individually. Each species is found to be in a new type of atomic state whose spin structure adapts itself to the prevailing densities of the gases in the mixture.

Spontaneous dissociation of 85Rb Feshbach molecules

The spontaneous dissociation of 85Rb dimers in the highest lying vibrational level has been observed in the vicinity of the Feshbach resonance that was used to produce them. The molecular lifetime shows a strong dependence on magnetic field, varying by 3 orders of magnitude between 155.5 G and 162.2 G. Our measurements are in good agreement with theoretical predictions in which molecular dissociation is driven by inelastic spin relaxation. Molecule lifetimes of tens of milliseconds can be achieved within approximately a 1 G wide region directly above the Feshbach resonance.

Atom-molecule coexistence and collective dynamics near a feshbach resonance of cold fermions

Degenerate Fermi gas interacting with molecules near a Feshbach resonance is unstable with respect to the formation of a mixed state, in which atoms and molecules coexist as a coherent superposition. A theory of this state is developed using a mapping to the Dicke model, treating the molecular field in the single mode approximation. The results are accurate in the strong coupling regime relevant for current experimental efforts. The exact solution of the Dicke model is exploited to study stability, phase diagram, and nonadiabatic dynamics of the molecular field in the mixed state.

Nonequilibrium dynamics and thermodynamics of a degenerate fermi gas across a feshbach resonance

We consider a two-species degenerate Fermi gas coupled by a diatomic Feshbach resonance. We show that the resulting superfluid can exhibit a form of coherent BEC-to-BCS oscillations in response to a nonadiabatic change in the system's parameters, such as, for example, a sudden shift in the position of the Feshbach resonance. In the narrow resonance limit, the resulting solitonlike collisionless dynamics can be calculated analytically. In equilibrium, the thermodynamics can be accurately computed across the full range of BCS-BEC crossover, with corrections controlled by the ratio of the resonance width to the Fermi energy.

Collective molecule formation in a degenerate Fermi gas via a Feshbach resonance

We model collisionless collective conversion of a degenerate Fermi gas of atoms into bosonic molecules via a Feshbach resonance, treating the bosonic molecules as a classical field and seeding the pairing amplitudes with random phases. A dynamical instability of the Fermi sea against association with molecules drives the conversion. The model qualitatively reproduces several experimental observations [Regal et al., Nature (London), (2003)]. We predict that the initial temperature of the Fermi gas sets the limit for the efficiency of atom-molecule conversion.

Crossover temperature of Bose-Einstein condensation in an atomic Fermi gas

We show that in an atomic Fermi gas near a Feshbach resonance the crossover between a Bose-Einstein condensate of diatomic molecules and a Bose-Einstein condensate of Cooper pairs occurs at positive detuning, i.e., when the molecular energy level lies in the two-atom continuum. We determine the crossover temperature as a function of the applied magnetic field and find excellent agreement with the experiment of C. A. Regal et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 040403 (2004)]] who has recently observed this crossover temperature.

Long-range nature of feshbach molecules in bose-einstein condensates

We discuss the long-range nature of the molecules produced in recent experiments on molecular Bose-Einstein condensation. The properties of these molecules depend on the full two-body Hamiltonian and not just on the states of the system in the absence of interchannel couplings. The very long-range nature of the state is crucial to the efficiency of production in the experiments. Our many-body treatment of the gas accounts for the full binary physics and describes properly how these molecular condensates can be directly probed.

Shortcut to a Fermi-degenerate gas of molecules via cooperative association

We theoretically examine the creation of a Fermi-degenerate gas of molecules by considering a photoassociation or Feshbach resonance applied to a degenerate Bose-Fermi mixture of atoms. This problem raises interest because, unlike bosons, fermions in general do not behave cooperatively, so that the collective conversion of a degenerate gas atoms into a macroscopic number of diatomic molecules is not to be expected. Nevertheless, we find that the coupled Fermi system displays collective Rabi-like oscillations and a rapid adiabatic passage between atoms and molecules, thereby mimicking Bose-Einstein statistics. Cooperative association of a degenerate mixture of Bose and Fermi gases could therefore serve as a shortcut to a degenerate gas of Fermi molecules.

Many-body aspects of coherent atom-molecule oscillations

We study the many-body effects on coherent atom-molecule oscillations by means of an effective quantum field theory that describes Feshbach-resonant interactions in Bose gases in terms of an atom-molecule Hamiltonian. We determine numerically the many-body corrections to the oscillation frequency for various densities of the atomic condensate. We also derive an analytic expression that approximately describes both the density and magnetic-field dependence of this frequency near the resonance. We find excellent agreement with experiment.

Robust soliton clusters in media with competing cubic and quintic nonlinearities

Systematic results are reported for dynamics of circular patterns ("necklaces"), composed of fundamental solitons and carrying orbital angular momentum, in the two-dimensional model, which describes the propagation of light beams in bulk media combining self-focusing cubic and self-defocusing quintic nonlinearities. Semianalytical predictions for the existence of quasistable necklace structures are obtained on the basis of an effective interaction potential. Then, direct simulations are run. In the case when the initial pattern is far from an equilibrium size predicted by the potential, it cannot maintain its shape. However, a necklace with the initial shape close to the predicted equilibrium survives very long evolution, featuring persistent oscillations. The quasistable evolution is not essentially disturbed by a large noise component added to the initial configuration. Basic conclusions concerning the necklace dynamics in this model are qualitatively the same as in a recently studied one which combines quadratic and self-defocusing cubic nonlinearities. Thus, we infer that a combination of competing self-focusing and self-defocusing nonlinearities enhances the robustness not only of vortex solitons but also of vorticity-carrying necklace patterns.

Efimov states in a Bose-Einstein condensate near a Feshbach resonance

Recent experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates of 85Rb atoms near a Feshbach resonance have produced evidence for a condensate of diatomic molecules coexisting with the atom condensate. It should also be possible to create condensates of the triatomic molecules predicted by Efimov coexisting with the atom and dimer condensates. The smoking gun for the trimer condensate would be oscillatory dependence of observables on the binding energy of the trimer. It may also be possible to deduce the existence of the trimer condensate from the spectra of the bursts of atoms and dimers created in the disappearance of the trimers.

Atoms and molecules in lattices: Bose-Einstein condensates built on a shared vacuum

In optical lattices where each site is occupied in its lowest energy state by a superposition of zero, one, and two atoms, one can in a controllable manner convert the atomic pair into a molecule while retaining the vacuum and one-atom amplitudes. The microscopic quantum coherence on each site between the vacuum and the single molecule component leads to a macroscopically populated molecular condensate when the lattice is removed.

Soliton "molecules": robust clusters of spatiotemporal optical solitons

We show how to generate robust self-sustained clusters of soliton bullets-spatiotemporal (optical or matter-wave) solitons. The clusters carry an orbital angular momentum being supported by competing nonlinearities. The "atoms" forming the "molecule" are fully three-dimensional solitons linked via a staircaselike macroscopic phase. Recent progress in generating atomic-molecular coherent mixing in the Bose-Einstein condensates might open potential scenarios for the experimental generation of these soliton molecules with matter waves.

Jaynes-Cummings dynamics with a matter wave oscillator

We propose to subject two Bose-Einstein condensates to a periodic potential, so that one condensate undergoes the Mott-insulator transition to a state with precisely one atom per lattice site. We show that photoassociation of heteronuclear molecules within each lattice site is described by the quantum optical Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian. In analogy with studies of this Hamiltonian with cavity fields and trapped ions, we are thus able to engineer quantum optical states of atomic matter wave fields and we are able to reconstruct these states by quantum state tomography.