Evidence for an excited-state Efimov trimer in a three-component Fermi gas.
We observe enhanced three-body recombination in a three-component ;{6}Li Fermi gas attributable to an excited Efimov trimer state intersecting the three-atom scattering threshold near 895 G. From measurements of the recombination rate we determine the Efimov parameters kappa_{*} and eta_{*} for the universal region above 600 G which includes three overlapping Feshbach resonances. The value of kappa_{*} also predicts the locations of loss features previously observed near 130 and 500 G [T. B. Ottenstein, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 203202 (2008)10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.203202; J. H. Huckans, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 165302 (2009)10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.165302] suggesting they are associated with a ground-state Efimov trimer near threshold. We also report on the realization of a degenerate three-component Fermi gas with approximate SU(3) symmetry.
Williams
J R
JR
Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802-6300, USA.
Hazlett
E L
EL
Huckans
J H
JH
Stites
R W
RW
Zhang
Y
Y
O'Hara
K M
KM