Quantum Scattering in an Optical Collider for Ultracold Atoms

Abstract

We report on experiments investigating the collisional properties of atoms at ultralow collision energies using an all-optical atom collider. By using a pair of optical tweezers, we can manipulate two ultracold atom clouds and collide them together at energies up to three orders of magnitude larger than their thermal energy. Our experiments measure the scattering of $\rm ^{87}Rb$, $\rm ^{40}K$, and $\rm ^{40}K$-$\rm ^{87}Rb$ collisions. The versatility of our collider allows us to probe both shape resonances and Feshbach resonances in any partial wave. As examples, we present experiments demonstrating p-wave scattering with indistinguishable fermions, inelastic scattering at non-zero energies near a homonuclear Feshbach resonance, and partial wave interference in heteronuclear collisions.