Magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances in Li + Yb($^3P_J$)

TL;DR

This study explores magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances in Li + Yb systems, revealing suppressed resonances due to inelastic collisions with Yb($^3P_2$) and very narrow resonances with Yb($^3P_0$).

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of Feshbach resonances involving metastable Yb states and their dependence on inelastic collision processes.

Findings

Resonances are suppressed by inelastic collisions in Yb($^3P_2$).

Sharp but extremely narrow resonances are found in Yb($^3P_0$).

Inelastic collision channels significantly affect resonance observability.

Abstract

We have investigated magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances arising from the interaction of Li($^2S$) with metastable Yb($^3P_2$) and ($^3P_0$). For Yb($^3P_2$), all the resonance features are strongly suppressed by inelastic collisions that produce Yb in its lower-lying $^3P_1$ and $^3P_0$ states. For Yb($^3P_0$), sharp resonances exist but they are extremely narrow (widths less than 1 mG).