Beyond s-wave scattering for ultracold atoms

Published

January 20, 2012

Author(s)

Ross A. Williams, Lindsay J. LeBlanc, Karina K. Jimenez Garcia, Matthew C. Beeler, Abigail R. Perry, William D. Phillips, Ian B. Spielman

Abstract

Interactions between particles can be strongly altered by their environment. Here we demonstrate a technique for modifying interactions between ultracold atoms by dressing the bare atomic states with light, creating a screened interaction of vastly increased range that scatters states of higher angular momentum at collision energies where only s-wave scattering would normally be expected. We optically dressed two neutral atomic Bose-Einstein condensates with a pair of lasers – linking together three different internal atomic states – and then collided these condensates with the equal, but opposite, momenta of just two optical photons. In agreement with our theoretical model, the usual s-wave distribution of scattered atoms was altered by the appearance of effective d- and g-wave contributions.

Citation

Science

Pub Type

Journals

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DOI Link

Keywords

Bose-Einstein Condensates, d-wave, Raman-dressed atoms, screened interactions, ultracold atomic collisions

Citation

Williams, R. , LeBlanc, L. , Jimenez, K. , Beeler, M. , Perry, A. , Phillips, W. and Spielman, I. (2012), Beyond s-wave scattering for ultracold atoms, Science, [online], https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1212652 (Accessed October 27, 2025)