Precision measurement of spin-dependent interaction strengths for spin-1 and spin-2 87Rb atoms

Abstract

We report on precision measurements of spin-dependent interaction-strengths in the 87Rb spin-1 and spin-2 hyperfine ground states. Our method is based on the recent observation of coherence in the collisionally driven spin-dynamics of ultracold atom pairs trapped in optical lattices. Analysis of the Rabi-type oscillations between two spin states of an atom pair allows a direct determination of the coupling parameters in the interaction hamiltonian. We deduce differences in scattering lengths from our data that can directly be compared to theoretical predictions in order to test interatomic potentials. Our measurements agree with the predictions within 20%. The knowledge of these coupling parameters allows one to determine the nature of the magnetic ground state. Our data imply a ferromagnetic ground state for 87Rb in the f=1 manifold, in agreement with earlier experiments performed without the optical lattice. For 87Rb in the f=2 manifold the data points towards an antiferromagnetic ground state, however our error bars do not exclude a possible cyclic phase.

11 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Implementation of Spin Hamiltonians in Optical Lattices
• Coherent collisional spin dynamics in optical lattices
• Interference pattern and visibility of a Mott insulator

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Spinor Dynamics in an Antiferromagnetic Spin-1 Condensate
• Quantum Phase Transitions and Continuous Observation of Spinor Dynamics in an Antiferromagnetic Condensate
• Spin-charge separation in two-component Bose-gases
• Discrete symmetries and 1/3-quantum vortices in condensates of F=2 cold atoms
• Dynamical and energetic instabilities in multi-component Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices
• Spin-dependent inelastic collisions in spin-2 Bose-Einstein condensates
• Quantum insulating states of F=2 cold atoms in optical lattices
• Dynamical instability of the XY spiral state of ferromagnetic condensates
• Creation of resilient entangled states and a resource for measurement-based quantum computation with optical superlattices
• Pair condensation of bosonic atoms induced by optical lattices
• Excitations in two-component Bose-gases
• Multicomponent Bright Solitons in F = 2 Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates
• Ultracold atomic Bose and Fermi spinor gases in optical lattices
• A Quantum Scattering Interferometer
• Mott phases and superfluid-insulator transition of dipolar spin-three bosons in an optical lattice: implications for Cr atoms