Optical control of Efimov state properties via blue-shielding*

In this work we explore the use of optical field to control fundamental properties of Efimov states. In the regime in which an external laser field is blue-detuned from an $S$-$P$ transition, the repulsive interaction between ground ($S$) and excited ($P$) atoms can be used in order to shield the short-range effects in the three-body physics. As a result, one could expect an improvement of the lifetime of Efimov states as well as collision properties involving three ground state atoms. We develop a hyperspherical adiabatic representation in combination with the Floquet formalism, leading to a clear physical picture of the relevant atomic processes.