1998/10/14 by M. Marinescu, L. You · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #quant-ph #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.81.4596
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.81:4596-4599,1998 · 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for a publication in Physical Review Letters
arxiv created 1998/10/14 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
We propose a physical mechanism for tuning the atom-atom interaction strength at ultra-low temperatures. In the presence of a dc electric field the interatomic potential is changed due to the effective dipole-dipole interaction between the polarized atoms. Detailed multi-channel scattering calculations reveal features never before discussed for ultra-cold atomic collisions. We demonstrate that optimal control of the effective atom-atom interactions can be achieved under reasonable laboratory conditions. Implications of this research on the physics of atomic Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) and on the pursuit for atomic degenerate fermion gases will be discussed.