Eur. Phys. J. D 65, 55-65 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-10591-2

Regular Article

Feshbach resonances in the ⁶Li-⁴⁰K Fermi-Fermi mixture: elastic versus inelastic interactions

¹ Institut für Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
² Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria
³ LENS, Physics Department, University of Florence and INO-CNR, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
⁴ Joint Quantum Institute, NIST and University of Maryland, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8423, Gaithersburg MD 20899-8423, USA

^a e-mail: rudolf.grimm@uibk.ac.at

Received: 18 October 2010
Published online: 14 January 2011

Abstract

We present a detailed theoretical and experimental study of Feshbach resonances in the ⁶Li-⁴⁰K mixture. Particular attention is given to the inelastic scattering properties, which have not been considered before. As an important example, we thoroughly investigate both elastic and inelastic scattering properties of a resonance that occurs near 155 G. Our theoretical predictions based on a coupled channels calculation are found in excellent agreement with the experimental results. We also present theoretical results on the molecular state that underlies the 155 G resonance, in particular concerning its lifetime against spontaneous dissociation. We then present a survey of resonances in the system, fully characterizing the corresponding elastic and inelastic scattering properties. This provides the essential information to identify optimum resonances for applications relying on interaction control in this Fermi-Fermi mixture.