Diatomic molecules in ultracold Fermi gases - Novel composite bosons

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent research on weakly bound diatomic molecules in ultracold Fermi gases, highlighting their composite boson nature, stability due to Pauli exclusion, and potential for Bose-Einstein condensation, with a focus on heteronuclear molecules and mass ratio effects.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the properties, stability, and condensation prospects of diatomic molecules in ultracold Fermi gases, emphasizing new insights into heteronuclear molecules and mass ratio influences.

Findings

Pauli exclusion suppresses collisional relaxation of molecules.

Mass ratio affects stability and collisional properties of heteronuclear molecules.

Prospects for Bose-Einstein condensation of these composite bosons.

Abstract

We give a brief overview of recent studies of weakly bound homonuclear molecules in ultracold two-component Fermi gases. It is emphasized that they represent novel composite bosons, which exhibit features of Fermi statistics at short intermolecular distances. In particular, Pauli exclusion principle for identical fermionic atoms provides a strong suppression of collisional relaxation of such molecules into deep bound states. We then analyze heteronuclear molecules which are expected to be formed in mixtures of different fermionic atoms. It is found how an increase in the mass ratio for the constituent atoms changes the physics of collisional stability of such molecules compared to the case of homonuclear ones. We discuss Bose-Einstein condensation of these composite bosons and draw prospects for future studies.