Experimental realization of ultracold Yb- Li7 mixtures in mixed dimensions

Abstract

We report on the experimental realization of ultracold 174 Yb-7 Li (Boson-Boson) and 173 Yb-7 Li (Fermion-Boson) mixtures. They are loaded into three dimensional (3D) or one dimensional (1D) optical lattices that are species-selectively deep for the heavy Ytterbium (Yb) and shallow for the light bosonic Lithium (Li) component, realizing novel mixed dimensional systems. In the 1D optical lattice the band structure of 173 Yb is reconstructed in the presence of 7 Li. Spectroscopic measurements of the 174 Yb-7 Li mixture in the 3D lattice give access to the 174 Yb Mott-insulator structure. Ground state inter-species scattering lengths are determined to be |a bg ( 174 Yb-7 Li)| = (1.11 ± 0.17) nm and |a bg ( 173 Yb-7 Li)| = (1.16 ± 0.18) nm. The formation and characterization of an ultracold 173 Yb-7 Li mixture is a first step towards a possible realization of a topological px + i py superfluid in this system.

Feshbach Resonances in p -Wave Three-Body Recombination within Fermi-Fermi Mixtures of Open-Shell Li6 and Closed-Shell Green1, Li2, Toh3 et al. 2020Phys. Rev. X551270View full textAdd to dashboardCite

“…In our research collaboration we investigate ultracold mixtures of alkali lithium and closed-shell ytterbium atoms [15][16][17][18][19] with their extreme mass ratio or imbalance of approximately 30. Quantum-degenerate mass-imbalanced mixtures [20][21][22] are of interest for several reasons. For instance, they can be used to investigate impurity physics [23][24][25], to study Fermi-Fermi mixtures [26][27][28], and to provide a platform for the simulation of the Kondo effect [29].…”

Confinement-induced resonance with weak background interaction

“…With these two CIRs one can realize strong effective inter-atomic interaction even if the 3D background interaction between these two atoms is very weak, and thus realize a stronglyinteracting impurity system without the help of MFR. So far the mixture of ultracold atoms with different masses has been realized by many experimental groups, e.g, the mixtures of 173(4) Yb- 7 Li [36], 161 Dy-40 K [37] and 40 K- 6 Li [38][39][40]. Our proposal is very hopefully to be realized in these experimental systems.…”

Detecting chiral pairing and topological superfluidity using circular dichroism

“…This makes such a mixture a strong candidate for observing a chiral pairing. Recently, progress towards realizing this goal was reported with the experimental realization of a 173 Yb- 7 Li mixture [10]. We now analyze how the dichroic probe can be used to detect topological pairing in this specific system.…”