Creation of ultracold heteronuclear p-wave Feshbach molecules

TL;DR

This paper reports the first creation and characterization of ultracold heteronuclear p-wave Feshbach molecules in a Bose-Bose mixture, advancing the study of anisotropic quantum interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a new ultracold molecule platform with heteronuclear and orbital anisotropic properties, enabling exploration of p-wave interactions.

Findings

Successfully created ultracold NaRb p-wave Feshbach molecules.

Characterized interspecies p-wave Feshbach resonances near 284 G.

Measured molecular lifetime and identified dominant loss mechanisms.

Abstract

We report the first creation of a bulk sample of ultracold heteronuclear p-wave Feshbach molecules in an optically trapped Bose-Bose mixture of 23Na and 87Rb atoms. Using loss spectroscopy and binding energy measurements, we systematically characterize the interspecies p-wave Feshbach resonances near 284 G. Leveraging this understanding, we use magneto-association to form p-wave NaRb Feshbach molecules, producing both pure samples and mixtures of molecules in different p-wave orbitals. We further measure the molecular lifetime and identify atom-molecule and molecule-molecule collisions as the dominant loss mechanisms. This work establishes a previously unavailable ultracold molecule platform that combines orbital anisotropy with heteronuclear constituents, represents a significant step toward realizing tunable p-wave interactions in Bose-Bose mixtures, and provides a foundation for exploring non-zero angular momentum molecules.