Spin-rotation coupling in p-wave Feshbach resonances

Abstract

We report evidence for spin-rotation coupling in $p$-wave Feshbach resonances in an ultracold mixture of fermionic ${}^6$Li and bosonic ${}^{133}$Cs lifting the commonly observed degeneracy of states with equal absolute value of orbital-angular-momentum projection on the external magnetic field. By employing magnetic field dependent atom-loss spectroscopy we find triplet structures in $p$-wave resonances. Comparison with coupled-channel calculations, including contributions from both spin-spin and spin-rotation interactions, yields a spin-rotation coupling parameter $|\gamma |=0.566(50)\times 10^{-3}$. Our findings highlight the potential of Feshbach resonances in revealing subtle molecular couplings and providing precise information on electronic and nuclear wavefunctions, especially at short internuclear distance. The existence of a non-negligible spin-rotation splitting may have consequences for future classifications of $p$-wave superfluid phases in spin-polarized fermions.

5 pages, welcome comments