Scattering and binding of different atomic species in a one-dimensional optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper develops an analytical theory for scattering and binding of different atomic species in a one-dimensional optical lattice, highlighting new features compared to identical atoms.

Contribution

It introduces a new analytical approach for atom pair scattering in a periodic potential with different atomic species, focusing on the lowest Bloch band.

Findings

Separation of relative and average coordinates simplifies the problem.

New scattering features emerge for different atomic species.

Analytical results extend understanding beyond identical atom cases.

Abstract

The theory of scattering of atom pairs in a periodic potential is presented for the case of different atoms. When the scattering dynamics is restricted to the lowest Bloch band of the periodic potential, a separation in relative and average discrete coordinates applies and makes the problem analytically tractable, and we present a number of new results and features compared to the case of identical atoms.