The prospects of forming ultracold molecules in $^2\Sigma$ states by magnetoassociation of alkali-metal atoms with Yb

• Main Authors: Brue, Daniel A, Hutson, Jeremy M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 29-04-2013
• Subjects: Physics - Atomic Physics
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1304.7674

Phys. Rev. A 87, 052709 (2013) We explore the feasibility of producing ultracold diatomic molecules with
nonzero electric and magnetic dipole moments by magnetically associating two
atoms, one with zero electron spin and one with nonzero spin. Feshbach
resonances arise through the dependence of the hyperfine coupling on
internuclear distance. We survey the Feshbach resonances in diatomic systems
combining the nine stable alkali-metal isotopes with those of Yb, focussing on
the illustrative examples of RbYb and CsYb. We show that the resonance widths
may expressed as a product of physically comprehensible terms in the framework
of Fermi's Golden Rule. The resonance widths depend strongly on the background
scattering length, which may be adjusted by selecting the Yb isotope, and on
the hyperfine coupling constant and the magnetic field. In favorable cases the
resonances may be over 100 mG wide.