Observation of an Efimov spectrum in an atomic system

Abstract

In 1970 V. Efimov predicted a puzzling quantum-mechanical effect that is still of great interest today. He found that three particles subjected to a resonant pairwise interaction can join into an infinite number of loosely bound states even though each particle pair cannot bind. Interestingly, the properties of these aggregates, such as the peculiar geometric scaling of their energy spectrum, are universal, i.e. independent of the microscopic details of their components. Despite an extensive search in many different physical systems, including atoms, molecules and nuclei, the characteristic spectrum of Efimov trimer states still eludes observation. Here we report on the discovery of two bound trimer states of potassium atoms very close to the Efimov scenario, which we reveal by studying three-particle collisions in an ultracold gas. Our observation provides the first evidence of an Efimov spectrum and allows a direct test of its scaling behaviour, shedding new light onto the physics of few-body systems.

10 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

References in corpus (22)

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• Evidence for Efimov quantum states in an ultracold gas of cesium atoms
• Collisional stability of a three-component degenerate Fermi gas
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• Three-boson problem near a narrow Feshbach resonance
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• 39-K Bose-Einstein condensate with tunable interactions
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• Universal Properties of the Four-Body System with Large Scattering Length
• Observation of heteronuclear atomic Efimov resonances
• Feshbach resonances in ultracold K(39)
• Efimov Physics in Cold Atoms
• Limits on Universality in Ultracold Three-Boson Recombination
• Magnetic dipolar interaction in an atomic Bose Einstein condensate interferometer
• Matter Wave Diffraction from an Inclined Transmission Grating: Searching for the Elusive He-4 Trimer Efimov State
• Range Corrections to Three-Body Observables near a Feshbach Resonance
• Efimov states near a Feshbach resonance
• Avalanches in a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Effective Range Corrections to Three-Body Recombination for Atoms with Large Scattering Length

Cited by in corpus (269)

• Quantum Mechanical Stabilization of a Collapsing Bose-Bose Mixture
• Self-bound quantum droplets in atomic mixtures
• Fermi gases in one dimension: From Bethe Ansatz to experiments
• Efimov Physics: a review
• Bright soliton to quantum droplet transition in a mixture of Bose-Einstein condensates
• Universality in Three- and Four-Body Bound States of Ultracold Atoms
• Expansion dynamics of interacting bosons in homogeneous lattices in one and two dimensions
• Negative Absolute Temperature for Motional Degrees of Freedom
• Contact Measurements on Atomic BEC
• Universal few-body physics and cluster formation
• Observation of universality in ultracold 7Li three-body recombination
• Universality of the Three-Body Parameter for Efimov States in Ultracold Cesium
• Few-body physics with ultracold atomic and molecular systems in traps
• Observation of Efimov Resonances in a Mixture with Extreme Mass Imbalance
• Dynamics of single neutral impurity atoms immersed in an ultracold gas
• Emergence of coherence and the dynamics of quantum phase transitions
• Impurity in a Bose-Einstein condensate and the Efimov effect
• General relations for quantum gases in two and three dimensions. Two-component fermions
• Evidence for Ground- and Excited-State Efimov Trimers in a Three-State Fermi Gas
• Origin of the Three-body Parameter Universality in Efimov Physics
• Effective field theory description of halo nuclei
• Geometric scaling of Efimov states in a ${}^6\text{Li}$-${}^{133}\text{Cs}$ mixture
• Radio Frequency Association of Efimov Trimers
• Observation of the Second Triatomic Resonance in Efimov's Scenario
• Lifetime of the Bose Gas with Resonant Interactions
• Efimov Resonances in Ultracold Quantum Gases
• Universality of the three-body Efimov parameter at narrow Feshbach resonances
• Nuclear-spin-independent short-range three-body physics in ultracold atoms
• Comparing and contrasting nuclei and cold atomic gases
• Tests of universal three-body physics in an ultracold Bose-Fermi mixture
• Efimov States in Nuclear and Particle Physics
• Measurement of an Efimov trimer binding energy in a three-component mixture of 6Li
• Two and Three-body Contacts in the Unitary Bose Gas
• Sticky collisions of ultracold RbCs molecules
• Non-universal Efimov Atom-Dimer Resonances in a Three-Component Mixture of 6Li
• Stability of a unitary Bose gas
• Atom-Dimer Scattering in a Three-Component Fermi Gas
• Universal three-body parameter in heteronuclear atomic systems
• Efimov physics beyond universality
• Microscopic Origin and Universality Classes of the Efimov Three-Body Parameter
• Weakly Bound Cluster States of Efimov Character
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• Effects of Interactions on the Critical Temperature of a Trapped Bose Gas
• Three-body problem in heteronuclear mixtures with resonant interspecies interaction
• Finite range corrections near a Feshbach resonance and their role in the Efimov effect
• Four-body Efimov effect
• Three-body correlation functions and recombination rates for bosons in three and one dimensions
• Few-body physics in resonantly interacting ultracold quantum gases
• Physical Origin of the Universal Three-body Parameter in Atomic Efimov Physics
• Association of Efimov trimers from a three-atom continuum
• Visualizing Efimov Correlations in the Bose Polaron
• Observation of a Lee-Huang-Yang Fluid
• Observation of the Efimovian Expansion in Scale Invariant Fermi Gases
• Observation of first and second sound in a BKT superfluid
• Universality and scaling limit of weakly-bound tetramers
• Broad universal Feshbach resonances in the chaotic spectrum of Dysprosium atoms
• ${}^6$He nucleus in halo effective field theory
• Probing the Interface of a Phase-Separated State in a Repulsive Bose-Fermi Mixture
• Testing universality of Efimov physics across broad and narrow Feshbach resonances
• Ultracold atoms and the Functional Renormalization Group
• Universal Five- and Six-Body Droplets Tied to an Efimov Trimer
• Universal Scaling Laws in the Dynamics of a Homogeneous Unitary Bose Gas
• Study of Efimov physics in two nuclear-spin sublevels of 7Li
• Efimov-driven phase transitions of the unitary Bose gas
• Supplementary information to "Efimov-driven phase transitions of the unitary Bose gas"
• On the modification of the Efimov spectrum in a finite cubic box
• A general theoretical description of N-body recombination
• Observation of Efimov molecules created from a resonantly interacting Bose gas
• Precision Test of the Limits to Universality in Few-Body Physics
• Variational calculation of 4He tetramer ground and excited states using a realistic pair potential
• Energy spectra of small bosonic clusters having a large two-body scattering length
• Efimov Physics and the Three-Body Parameter within a Two-Channel Framework
• Partial-Transfer Absorption Imaging: A versatile technique for optimal imaging of ultracold gases
• Universal three-body physics in ultracold KRb mixtures
• Strongly correlated Bose gases
• The Efimov effect for three interacting bosonic dipoles
• Generalized Efimov scenario for heavy-light mixtures
• Can a Bose gas be saturated?
• Energy spectrum of harmonically trapped two-component Fermi gases: Three- and Four-Particle Problem
• Ultracold three-body collisions near overlapping Feshbach resonances
• Single-Particle Momentum Distribution of an Efimov trimer
• Bose-Einstein condensation of 86Sr
• Universal four-body states in heavy-light mixtures with positive scattering length
• The Hyperspherical Four-Fermion Problem
• Resonant Five-body Recombination in an Ultracold Gas of Bosonic Atoms
• Efimov Physics and Connections to Nuclear Physics
• Universality and the three-body parameter of helium-4 trimers
• Renormalization group study of the four-body problem
• $N$-boson spectrum from a Discrete Scale Invariance
• Efficient Production of Large 39K Bose-Einstein Condensates
• Universal nature and finite-range corrections in elastic atom-dimer scattering below the dimer breakup threshold
• Universality of Brunnian ($N$-body Borromean) four and five-body systems
• Green's Functions and the Adiabatic Hyperspherical Method
• The Efimov effect in lithium 6
• Isotropic contact forces in arbitrary representation: heterogeneous few-body problems and low dimensions
• Observation of Efimov Universality across a Non-Universal Feshbach Resonance in \textsuperscript{39}K
• Tunable three-body interactions in driven two-component Bose-Einstein condensates
• Analytical model of overlapping Feshbach resonances
• Theory of long-range ultracold atom-molecule photoassociation
• Universal Trimers induced by Spin-Orbit Coupling in Ultracold Fermi Gases
• Borromean ground state of fermions in two dimensions
• Universal three-body recombination and Efimov resonances in an ultracold Li-Cs mixture
• Effective-range approximations for resonant scattering of cold atoms
• Pauli Blocking Effect on Efimov States Near Feshbach Resonance
• Trimers in the resonant 2+1 fermionic problem on a narrow Feshbach resonance : Crossover from Efimovian to Hydrogenoid spectrum
• Efimov-van-der-Waals universality for ultracold atoms with positive scattering lengths
• All optical cooling of ${}^{39}$K to Bose Einstein condensation
• Condensed Fraction of an Atomic Bose Gas Induced by Critical Correlations
• Binding and structure of tetramers in the scaling limit
• Elastic Multi-Body Interactions on a Lattice
• Cold three-body collisions in hydrogen-hydrogen-alkali atomic system
• Resonant atom-dimer collisions in cesium: Testing universality at positive scattering lengths
• Ultracold three-body collisions near narrow Feshbach resonances
• Efimov Physics in 6Li Atoms
• Crossover in the Efimov spectrum
• Pinpointing Feshbach Resonances and Testing Efimov Universalities in ${}^{39}$K
• Universal three-body parameter in ultracold 4He*
• Efimov correlations in strongly interacting Bose gases
• Efimov states near a Feshbach resonance and the limits of van der Waals universality at finite background scattering length
• Probing strongly interacting atomic gases with energetic atoms
• Absence of a four-body Efimov effect in the 2 + 2 fermionic problem
• The mixing-demixing phase diagram of ultracold heteronuclear mixtures in a ring trimer
• Looking for "avalanche-mechanism" loss at an atom-molecule Efimov resonance
• Borromean droplet in three-component ultracold Bose gases
• Efimov physics in heteronuclear four-body systems
• Efimov physics from a renormalization group perspective
• Three body recombination of ultracold dipoles to weakly bound dimers
• Trapped two-component Fermi gases with up to six particles: Energetics, structural properties, and molecular condensate fraction
• Decay Modes of the Hoyle State in ${}^{12}C$
• Efimov trimers under strong confinement
• Three-body recombination of two-component cold atomic gases into deep dimers in an optical model
• Fate of the neutron-deuteron virtual state as an Efimov level
• N-body Efimov states from two-particle noise
• Enhancing the Efimov correlation in Bose polarons with large mass imbalance
• Energy and structural properties of $N$-boson clusters attached to three-body Efimov states: Two-body zero-range interactions and the role of the three-body regulator
• Universal clusters as building blocks of stable quantum matter
• Universal Borromean Binding in Spin-Orbit Coupled Ultracold Fermi Gases
• Weakly bound states of two- and three-boson systems in the crossover from two to three dimension
• Finite-range effects in Efimov physics beyond the separable approximation
• Efimov three-body states on top of a Fermi sea
• On the Efimov Effect in Higher Partial Waves
• Three-body repulsive forces among identical bosons in one dimension
• The three-body parameter for Efimov states in lithium-6
• Universal Dimer in a Collisionally Opaque Medium: Experimental Observables and Efimov Resonances
• Atom-Dimer Scattering and Stability of Bose and Fermi Mixtures
• One-neutron halo structure by the ratio method
• Bose Gases Near Resonance: renormalized interactions in a condensate
• Few-body resonances of unequal-mass systems with infinite interspecies two-body s-wave scattering length
• Efimov physics and the three-body parameter for shallow van der Waals potentials
• Squeezing the Efimov effect
• Onset of the Limit Cycle and Universal Three-Body Parameter in Efimov Physics
• Inelastic collisions of ultracold triplet Rb${}_{\text{2}}$ molecules in the rovibrational ground state
• Isotopic shift of atom-dimer Efimov resonances in K-Rb mixtures: Critical effect of multichannel Feshbach physics
• Feshbach Loss Spectroscopy in an Ultracold ${}^{23}$Na and ${}^{40}$K Mixture
• Universal few-body physics in a harmonic trap
• Condensation dynamics in a quantum-quenched Bose gas
• High order magnon bound states in the quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet $\alpha$-NaMnO${}_2$
• The multichannel nature of three-body recombination for ultracold ${}^{39}$K
• Chemistry of a light impurity in a Bose-Einstein condensate
• When a DNA Triple helix melts: An analog of the Efimov state
• Trion and Dimer Formation of Three-Color Fermions
• From few to many bosons inside the unitary window: a transition between universal to non-universal behavior
• Finite Range Effects in Energies and Recombination Rates of Three Identical Bosons
• Anomalous frequency shifts in a one-dimensional trapped Bose gas
• Strongly Resonating Bosons in Hot Nuclei
• Multichannel effects in the Efimov regime from broad to narrow Feshbach resonances
• Ultracold bosons in the vicinity of a narrow resonance: shallow dimer and recombination
• Recombination rates from potential models close to the unitary limit
• Finite-temperature effects on a triatomic Efimov resonance in ultracold cesium
• Ground state of small mixed helium and spin-polarized tritium clusters: a quantum Monte Carlo stud
• Universal three-body physics at finite energy near Feshbach resonances
• Photoassociation of a cold atom-molecule pair: long-range quadrupole-quadrupole interactions
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• Universality in Four-Boson Systems
• Three-body forces and Efimov physics in nuclei and atoms
• Efimov Trimers in a Harmonic Potential
• Three-body Physics in Strongly Correlated Spinor Condensates
• Long-lived universal resonant Bose gases
• Feshbach spectroscopy of an ultracold ${}^{41}$K-${}^6$Li mixture and ${}^{41}$K atoms
• Rydberg optical Feshbach resonances in cold gases
• Observation of Feshbach resonances in an ${}^{167}$Er-${}^6$Li Fermi-Fermi mixture
• A coherent superposition of Feshbach dimers and Efimov trimers
• Three in Many: Efimov physics in the presence of a Fermi sea
• An elementary exposition of the Efimov Effect
• Dynamic Super Efimov Effect
• A superheated Bose-condensed gas
• Efimov physics and universal trimer in spin-orbit coupled ultracold atomic mixtures
• Three-body recombination at finite energy within an optical model
• Observation of Dynamical Super Efimovian Expansion in a Unitary Fermi Gas
• Effective range from tetramer dissociation data for cesium atoms
• Many Bosons in a Narrow Magnetic Feshbach Resonance
• Universal bosonic tetramers of dimer-atom-atom structure
• Zero-temperature phase diagram of Yukawa bosons
• Van der Waals universality in homonuclear atom-dimer elastic collisions
• Three-body systems in physics of cold atoms and halo nuclei
• Observation of Anomalous Decay of a Polarized Three-Component Fermi Gas
• Trimer superfluid and supersolid on two-dimensional optical lattices
• Detection of Gravitational Waves using Parametric Resonance in Bose-Einstein Condensates
• Three-body recombination rates near a Feshbach resonance within a two-channel contact interaction model
• The Avalanche Mechanism for Atom Loss near an Atom-Dimer Efimov Resonance
• Stable Heteronuclear Few-Atom Bound States in Mixed Dimensions
• Three-body rf association of Efimov trimers
• D-dimensional three-body bound-state problem with zero range interactions
• Efimov Physics in Atom-Dimer Scattering of Lithium-6 Atoms
• Efimov effect in non-integer dimensions induced by an external field
• Efimov like phase of a three stranded DNA (Efimov-DNA) and the renormalization group limit cycle
• Exact solution of the three-boson problem at vanishing energy
• A geometrical interpretation of the Thomas theorem and the Efimov States
• Efimov effect of triple-stranded DNA: Real-space renormalization group and Zeros of the partition function
• Efficient three-body calculations with a two-body mapped grid method
• A multichannel hyperspherical model for Efimov physics with van der Waals interactions controlled by a Feshbach resonance
• Cold atom-dimer reaction rates with ${}^4$He, ${}^{6,7}$Li and ${}^{23}$Na
• Trimer superfluid induced by photoassocation on the state-dependent optical lattice
• Topological origin of universal few-body clusters in Efimov physics
• Triple α Resonances in the Decay of Hot Nuclear Systems *
• Universal Bound States of Two Particles in Mixed Dimensions or Near a Mirror
• Efimov physics in the complex plane
• Universal Three-Body Parameter of Heavy-Heavy-Light systems with negative intraspecies scattering length
• Atom Loss Resonances in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
• Three-body bound states of two bosons and one impurity in one dimension
• The universality of the Efimov three-body parameter
• Avalanche Mechanism for the Enhanced Loss of Ultracold Atoms
• Calibrating the absorption imaging of cold atoms under high magnetic fields
• Three-body problem in a multiband Hubbard model
• Combined few-body and mean-field model for nuclei
• Bubble-bound state of triple-stranded DNA: Efimov Physics in DNA with repulsion
• Dimer-atom-atom recombination in the universal four-boson system
• Approaching universality in weakly-bound three-body systems
• Some applications of the Faddeev-Yakubovsky equations to the cold-atom physics
• Supersymmetric isospectral formalism for the calculation of near-zero energy states: application to the very weakly bound ${}^4$He trimer excited state
• Temperature dependence of an Efimov resonance in ${}^{39}\mathrm{K}$
• Three-boson spectrum in the presence of 1D spin-orbit coupling: Efimov's generalized radial scaling law
• Effect of finite range interactions on roton mode softening in a multi-component BEC
• Four-body long-range interactions between ultracold weakly-bound diatomic molecules
• Observation of a Halo Trimer in an Ultracold Bose-Fermi Mixture
• Loosely Bound Few-Body States in a Spin-1 Gas with Near-Degenerate Continua
• Stability of $(N+1)$-body fermion clusters in multiband Hubbard model
• Observation of an Efimov resonance in an ultracold mixture of atoms and weakly bound dimers
• Scattering of cold ${}^4$He on ${}^4$He${-}^{6,7}$Li and ${}^4$He${-}^{23}$Na molecules
• Magnetic Field Dependence and Efimov Resonance Broadening in Ultracold Three-Body Recombination
• Neutron-${}^{19}\mathrm{C}$ scattering: Towards including realistic interactions
• Magnetic Manifestation of Discrete Scaling Symmetry in Dirac Semimetals
• Efimov states in Li-Cs mixtures within a minimal model
• Off-site trimer superfluid on a one-dimensional optical lattice
• Three-body recombination in a single-component Fermi gas with $p$-wave interaction
• An experimental platform for studying the heteronuclear Efimov effect with an ultracold mixture of ${}^6$Li and ${}^{133}$Cs atoms
• On the virtual level of two-body interactions and applications to three-body systems in higher dimensions
• Photo Reactions with Universal Trimers
• Observability of the Efimov spectrum in an electron-atom-atom system
• Energetics and structural properties of two- and three-boson systems in the presence of 1D spin-orbit coupling
• Efimov effect for two particles on a semi-infinite line
• Efimov Trimers near the Zero-crossing of a Feshbach Resonance
• Window for Efimov physics for few-body systems with finite-range interactions
• A semiclassical analysis of the Efimov energy spectrum in the unitary limit
• Manifestation of Universality in the Asymmetric Helium Trimer and in the Halo Nucleus ${}^{22}$C
• Quantum N-Boson States and Quantized Motion of Solitonic Droplets: Universal Scaling Properties in Low Dimensions
• Efimov physics beyond three particles
• Liquid-solid transitions in the three-body hard-core model
• Ultracold collisions in the Yb-Li mixture system
• Log-Periodic Oscillations in the Photo Response of Efimov Trimers
• Three-body recombination near the d-wave resonance in ultracold ${}^{85}$Rb\,-${}^{87}$Rb mixtures
• Efimov-DNA Phase diagram: three stranded DNA on a cubic lattice
• Shallow Trimers of Two Identical Fermions and One Particle in Resonant Regimes
• First and second sound in a compressible 3D Bose fluid
• Feshbach resonances of large mass-imbalance Er-Li mixtures
• Three-body Physics in the Impurity Limit of 39K Bose-Einstein Condensates
• Observable Resonances in Efimov-unfavored Systems
• Suppression and enhancement of bosonic stimulation by atomic interactions
• Bound-like State in a 1D Self-Similar Delta-Barrier Array