Tue February 12, 2013 4:00 pm
Quantum Mixtures of Ytterbium and Lithium Atoms
Location:Jefferson-250
A mass-mismatched mixture of ytterbium (Yb) and lithium (Li) can be useful for various studies in few- and many-body physics. Furthermore, this combination (of an alkaline-earth-like and an alkali atom) also forms the starting point for the production of ultracold paramagnetic polar molecules, with proposed applications in quantum simulation, quantum information science, and precision tests of fundamental physics. In addition to the realization of simultaneous quantum degeneracy, I will also report on our study of the collisional stability of the Yb-Li mixture in the vicinity of a Li Feshbach resonance. In our experiment, Yb can be prepared as either a bath for or a probe of the strongly interacting Li Fermi gas. I will also discuss the prospects for tunable inter-species interactions and the YbLi molecule.