title: Coherent molecule formation in anharmonic potentials near confinement-induced resonances.
abstract: We perform a theoretical and experimental study of a system of two ultracold atoms with tunable interaction in an elongated trapping potential. We show that the coupling of center-of-mass and relative motion due to an anharmonicity of the trapping potential leads to a coherent coupling of a state of an unbound atom pair and a molecule with a center of mass excitation. By performing the experiment with exactly two particles we exclude three-body losses and can therefore directly observe coherent molecule formation. We find quantitative agreement between our theory of inelastic confinement-induced resonances and the experimental results. This shows that the effects of center-of-mass to relative-motion coupling can have a significant impact on the physics of quantum systems near center-of-mass to relative-motion coupling resonances.
authors.affiliation: AG Moderne Optik, Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstrasse 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sala
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zürn
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany and ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lompe
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: A N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Wenz
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murmann
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany and ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Serwane
authors.affiliation: Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany and Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany and ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jochim
authors.affiliation: AG Moderne Optik, Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstrasse 15, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saenz