Observation of a p-wave optical Feshbach resonance

Abstract

We demonstrate a p-wave optical Feshbach resonance (OFR) using purely long-range molecular states of a fermionic isotope of ytterbium 171Yb, following the proposition made by K. Goyal. The p-wave OFR is clearly observed as a modification of a photoassociation rate for atomic ensembles at about 5 μK. A scattering phase shift variation of δη=0.022 rad is observed with an atom loss rate coefficient K=28.0×10-12 cm3/s. © 2013 American Physical Society.