Life and death of a cold 
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 molecule inside an ultracold cloud of Rb atoms

Mohammadi, Amir; Krükow, Artjom; Mahdian, Amir; Deiß, Markus; Pérez‐Ríos, Jesús; Silva, Humberto da; Raoult, Maurice; Dulieu, Olivier; Denschlag, Johannes Hecker

doi:10.1103/physrevresearch.3.013196

Cited by 50 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Examples include charge-exchange reactions between atoms and ions [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], atoms and molecular ions [16], and Rydberg atoms and ions [17]. More reaction pathways include spin exchange and spin relaxation [18][19][20][21][22], molecular formation [12,[23][24][25], as well as three-body recombination [26,27]. Some of the experiments mentioned above were carried out with both the atom and ion prepared in their electronic ground state.…”

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confidence: 99%

Direct observation of ultracold atom-ion excitation exchange

et al. 2020

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Ultracold atom-ion collisions are an emerging field of research that can ultimately lead to their precise quantum control. In collisions in which the ion is prepared in an excited state, previous studies showed that the dominant reaction pathway was charge exchange. Here, we explored the outcome products and the energy released from a single ultracold collision between a single 88 Sr + ion and a single 87 Rb atom prepared in excited metastable and ground electronic states, respectively, with control over their relative spins. We found that the ion's long-lived D 5/2 and D 3/2 states quench after roughly three collisions, acquiring immense kinetic energy in the process. By performing single-shot thermometry on the ion after the collision, we identified two dominant reaction pathways: electronic excitation exchange and spin-orbit change. In contrast to previous experiments, we observed no charge-exchange events. These processes are theoretically understood to occur through Landau-Zener avoided crossings leading to the observed reaction pathways. We also found that spin orientation has almost no effect on the reaction pathways, due to strong Coriolis-spin mixing. Our results provide a deeper understanding of ultracold atom-ion inelastic collisions and offer additional quantum control tools for the cold chemistry field.

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confidence: 99%

Direct observation of ultracold atom-ion excitation exchange

et al. 2020

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“…Next, the centers of the ion and atom traps are overlaid, immersing the Ba + ions into the atom cloud. Subsequently, the Ba + ions can undergo reactions with the Rb atoms, such as, e.g., charge exchange [50]. After a long interaction time of 2s we are predominantly left with Rb + ions, as confirmed by mass spectrometry.…”

Section: Ion Number Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 72%

Spin-conservation propensity rule for three-body recombination of ultracold Rb atoms

Haze,

D'Incao,

Dorer

et al. 2021

Preprint

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We explore the physical origin and the general validity of a propensity rule for the conservation of the hyperfine spin state in three-body recombination. This rule was recently discovered for the special case of 87 Rb with its nearly equal singlet and triplet scattering lengths. Here, we test the propensity rule for 85 Rb for which the scattering properties are very different from 87 Rb. The Rb 2 molecular product distribution is mapped out in a state-to-state fashion using REMPI detection schemes which fully cover all possible molecular spin states. Interestingly, for the experimentally investigated range of binding energies from zero to ∼ 13 GHz × h we observe that the spin-conservation propensity rule also holds for 85 Rb. From these observations and a theoretical analysis we derive an understanding for the conservation of the hyperfine spin state. We identify several criteria to judge whether the propensity rule will also hold for other elements and collision channels.

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“…1,2 In the field of ultracold physics, recent developments in laser technologies and cooling techniques have made it possible to gain a more indepth insight into the significant role of three-body recombination processes in different phenomena, such as atomic loss processes in ultracold dilute gases [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and the formation and trapping of cold and ultracold molecules. [10][11][12][13][14] van der Waals (vdW) molecules consist of two atoms held together by the long-range dispersion interaction 15 presenting binding energies ≲1 meV. Therefore, vdW molecules show the weakest gas-phase molecular bond in nature, except for ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules showing binding energies ∼ 4 neV. [65][66][67][68][69][70] The binding mechanism in vdW molecules relies on the compensation between the short-range repulsive interaction (due to the overlap of closed-shell orbitals) and the attractive −C 6 /r 6 vdW interaction, where the dispersion coefficient C 6 depends on the polarizability of the interacting atoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the formation of van der Waals complexes through three-body recombination

Mirahmadi

Pérez‐Ríos

2021

The Journal of Chemical Physics

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In this work, we show that van der Waals molecules X-RG (where RG is the rare gas atom) may be created through direct three-body recombination collisions, i.e., X + RG + RG → X-RG + RG. In particular, the three-body recombination rate at temperatures relevant for buffer gas cell experiments is calculated via a classical trajectory method in hyperspherical coordinates [Pérez-Ríos et al., J. Chem. Phys. 140, 044307 ( 2014)]. As a result, it is found that the formation of van der Waals molecules in buffer gas cells (1 K ≲ T ≲ 10 K) is dominated by the long-range tail (distances larger than the LeRoy radius) of the X-RG interaction. For higher temperatures, the short-range region of the potential becomes more significant. Moreover, we notice that the rate of formation of van der Walls molecules is of the same order of the magnitude independent of the chemical properties of X. As a consequence, almost any X-RG molecule may be created and observed in a buffer gas cell under proper conditions.

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Life and death of a cold BaRb+ molecule inside an ultracold cloud of Rb atoms

Cited by 50 publications

References 77 publications

Direct observation of ultracold atom-ion excitation exchange

Direct observation of ultracold atom-ion excitation exchange

Spin-conservation propensity rule for three-body recombination of ultracold Rb atoms

On the formation of van der Waals complexes through three-body recombination

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