Radio Frequency Association of Efimov Trimers

Understand

The quantum-mechanical three-body problem is one of the fundamental challenges of few-body physics.

• When the two-body interactions become resonant, an infinite series of universal three-body bound states is predicted to occur, whose properties are determined by the strength of the two-body interactions.
• We report on the association and direct observation of a trimer state consisting of three distinguishable fermions using radio-frequency (RF) spectroscopy.
• The measurements of its binding energy are consistent with theoretical predictions which include non-universal corrections.