Optical Feshbach resonances in a Rb BEC

Johannes Hecker-Denschlag

Abteilung für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25 / IV, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

We demonstrate optical tuning of the scattering length of ulracold atoms. In our experiment atoms in a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate are exposed to laser light which couples pairs of colliding atoms to molecular excited states or molecular ground states. By controlling the power and detuning of the laser radiation we can change the atomic scattering length considerably. The dependence of the scattering length on these parameters is experimentally studied and theoretically modelled.