Controlling chemical reactions of a single particle

Abstract

The control of chemical reactions is a recurring theme in physics and chemistry. Traditionally, chemical reactions have been investigated by tuning thermodynamic parameters, such as temperature or pressure. More recently, physical methods such as laser or magnetic field control have emerged to provide completely new experimental possibilities, in particular in the realm of cold collisions. The control of reaction pathways is also a critical component to implement molecular quantum information processing. For these undertakings, single particles provide a clean and well-controlled experimental system. Here, we report on the experimental tuning of the exchange reaction rates of a single trapped ion with ultracold neutral atoms by exerting control over both their quantum states. We observe the influence of the hyperfine interaction on chemical reaction rates and branching ratios, and monitor the kinematics of the reaction products. These investigations advance chemistry with single trapped particles towards achieving quantum-limited control of chemical reactions and indicate limits for buffer gas cooling of single ion clocks.

References in corpus (7)

• Manipulation and Detection of a Trapped Yb+ Ion Hyperfine Qubit
• A trapped single ion inside a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Quantum transport through a Tonks-Girardeau gas
• Quantum theory of ultracold atom-ion collisions
• Cold heteronuclear atom-ion collisions
• Probing isotope effects in chemical reactions using single ions
• Kinetics of a single trapped ion in an ultracold buffer gas

Cited by in corpus (24)

• A single ion coupled to an optical fiber cavity
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• Observation of collisions between cold Li atoms and Yb${}^{+}$ ions
• Bipolarons and multi-polarons consisting of impurity atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Reaction blockading in charged-neutral excited-state chemistry at low collision energy
• Formation of molecular ions by radiative association of cold trapped atoms and ions
• Charge-exchange collisions between ultracold fermionic lithium atoms and calcium ions
• Ground state properties of ultracold trapped bosons with an immersed ionic impurity
• Measurement of low-energy Na^+ -- Na total collision rate in an ion--neutral hybrid trap
• Ultracold, radiative charge transfer in hybrid Yb ion - Rb atom traps
• Engineering excited-state interactions at ultracold temperatures
• Ultracold ion-atom experiments: cooling, chemistry, and quantum effects
• Single-shot energy measurement of a single atom and the direct reconstruction of its energy distribution
• Charge dynamics of a molecular ion immersed in a Rydberg-dressed atomic lattice gas
• Control of chemical reactions using electric field gradients
• Photon-mediated charge-exchange reactions between 39K atoms and 40Ca+ ions in a hybrid trap
• Rotational state-changing collisions between N${}_2^{+}$ and Rb at low energies
• Experimental setup for studying an ultracold mixture of trapped Yb${}^{+}$-${}^6$Li
• Interaction potentials and ultracold scattering cross sections for the ${}^7$Li${}^{+}$-${}^7$Li ion-atom system
• Number-Resolved Detection of Dark Ions in Coulomb Crystals
• Cooling dynamics of a free ion in a Bose-Einstein condensate
• Characterization of the electronic ground state of Mg${}_2^{+}$ by PFI-ZEKE photoelectron spectroscopy
• Spin controlled atom-ion inelastic collisions
• Cold interactions and chemical reactions of linear polyatomic anions with alkali-metal and alkaline-earth-metal atoms