Controlling the s-wave scattering length with non-resonant light: Predictions of an 

Abstract

A pair of atoms interacts with nonresonant light via its anisotropic polarizability. 
This effect can be used to tune the scattering properties of the atoms. Although the 
light-atom interaction varies with interatomic separation as 1/R³, the effective 
s-wave potential decreases more rapidly as 1/R4 such that the field-dressed scattering
length can be determined without any formal difficulty. The scattering dynamics are 
essentially governed by the long-range part of the interatomic interaction and can 
thus be accurately described by an asymptotic model A. Crubellier et al., New J. 
Phys. 17, 045020 (2015). Here we use the asymptotic model to determine the field-
dressed scattering length from the s-wave radial component of a particular threshold
wave function. Applying our theory to the scattering of two strontium isotopes, we 
calculate the variation of the scattering length with the intensity of the 
nonresonant light. Moreover, we predict the intensities at which the scattering 
length becomes infinite for any pair of atoms.