Collisional stability of localized Yb(3P2) atoms immersed in a Fermi sea of Li. (7th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Konishi, Hideki; Schäfer, Florian; Ueda, Shinya; Takahashi, Yoshiro
• Is Part Of: New journal of physics. Volume 18:Number 10(2016:Oct.)
• Publication Date: 2016-10-07
• Subjects: quantum degenerate atomic mixtures -- metastable state -- inelastic collisions; 34.50.-s -- 67.85.-d; Physics -- Periodicals; Physics; Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/18/10/103009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-2630

Abstract

Abstract: We establish an experimental method for a detailed investigation of inelastic collisional properties between ytterbium (Yb) in the metastable 3 P 2 state and ground state lithium (Li). By combining an optical lattice and a direct excitation to the 3 P 2 state we achieve high selectivity on the collisional partners. Using this method we determine inelastic loss coefficients in collisions between 174 Yb( 3 P 2 ) with magnetic sublevels of m J = 0 and −2 and ground state 6 Li to be ( 4.4 ± 0.3 ) × 10 − 11 cm 3 s − 1 and ( 4.7 ± 0.8 ) × 10 − 11 cm 3 s − 1, respectively. Absence of spin changing processes in Yb( 3 P 2 )–Li inelastic collisions at low magnetic fields is confirmed by inelastic loss measurements on the m J = 0 state. We also demonstrate that our method allows us to look into loss processes in few-body systems separately.