Production of three-body Efimov molecules in an optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper explores creating Efimov trimers from three Bose atoms in an optical lattice using Feshbach resonances, predicting their energy levels, wave functions, and conditions for association.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical framework for producing and analyzing Efimov molecules in a tightly confined trap, including exact solutions of three-body interactions.

Findings

Efimov trimer states can be associated via magnetic field sweeps.

Binding energies of trimers are comparable to diatomic molecules.

Efimov scenario is confirmed with tunable pairwise attraction.

Abstract

We study the possibility of associating meta-stable Efimov trimers from three free Bose atoms in a tight trap realised, for instance, via an optical lattice site or a microchip. The suggested scheme for the production of these molecules is based on magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances and takes advantage of the Efimov effect in three-body energy spectra. Our predictions on the energy levels and wave functions of three pairwise interacting 85Rb atoms rely upon exact solutions of the Faddeev equations and include the tightly confining potential of an isotropic harmonic atom trap. The magnetic field dependence of these energy levels indicates that it is the lowest energetic Efimov trimer state that can be associated in an adiabatic sweep of the field strength. We show that the binding energies and spatial extents of the trimer molecules produced are comparable, in their magnitudes, to those of the associated diatomic Feshbach molecule. The three-body molecular state follows Efimov's scenario when the pairwise attraction of the atoms is strengthened by tuning the magnetic field strength.