Observation of Quantum Effects in sub Kelvin Cold Reactions

Abstract

There has been a long-standing quest to observe chemical reactions at low temperatures where reaction rates and pathways are governed by quantum mechanical effects. So far this field of Quantum Chemistry has been dominated by theory. The difficulty has been to realize in the laboratory low enough collisional velocities between neutral reactants, so that the quantum wave nature could be observed. We report here the first realization of merged neutral supersonic beams, and the observation of clear quantum effects in the resulting reactions. We observe orbiting resonances in the Penning ionization reaction of argon and molecular hydrogen with metastable helium leading to a sharp increase in the absolute reaction rate in the energy range corresponding to a few degrees kelvin down to 10 mK. Our method is widely applicable to many canonical chemical reactions, and will enable a breakthrough in the experimental study of Quantum Chemistry.

References in corpus (4)

• Low-energy molecular collisions in a permanent magnetic trap
• Imaging of s and d partial-wave interference in quantum scattering of identical bosonic atoms
• Large Effects of Electric Fields on Atom-Molecule Collisions at Millikelvin Temperatures
• Quantum dynamics of the O + OH -> H + O2 reaction at low temperatures

Cited by in corpus (48)

• Cold molecules: Progress in Quantum Engineering of Chemistry and Quantum Matter
• Quantum state manipulation and cooling of ultracold molecules
• Dynamics of gas phase Ne${}^{\ast }$ + NH${}_3$ and Ne${}^{\ast }$ + ND${}_3$ Penning ionization at low temperatures
• Control of reactive collisions by quantum interference
• Observation of enhanced rate coefficients in the H${}_2^{+}$ + H${}_2$ $\to$ H${}_3^{+}$ + H reaction at low collision energies
• Remote entanglement via adiabatic passage using a tunably-dissipative quantum communication system
• Collisions Between Ultracold Molecules and Atoms in a Magnetic Trap
• Observation of orbiting resonances in He(3S1) + NH3 Penning ionization
• Field-linked resonances of polar molecules
• Tomography of Feshbach Resonance States
• Energy dependent stereodynamics of the Ne(${}^3$P${}_2$)+Ar reaction
• Quantum state resolved molecular dipolar collisions over four decades of energy
• Study of the Ne(^3P_2) + CH_3F Electron Transfer Reaction below 1 Kelvin
• Ion-molecule reactions below 1~K: Observation of a strong enhancement of the reaction rate of the ion-dipole reaction He${}^{+}$+ CH${}_3$F
• Complete quantum coherent control of ultracold molecular collisions
• Quantum defect model of a reactive collision at finite temperature
• Cold collisions in a molecular synchrotron
• Design and construction of a multistage Zeeman decelerator for crossed molecular beams scattering experiments
• Molecular Collisions: from Near-cold to Ultra-cold
• Collisional losses of ultracold molecules due to intermediate complex formation
• Stereodynamic control of cold rotationally inelastic CO + HD collisions
• Adiabatic Channel Capture Theory Applied to Cold Atom-Molecule Reactions: Li + CaH -> LiH + Ca at 1 K
• Coherent control of reactive scattering at low temperatures: Signatures of quantum interference in the differential cross sections for F + H2 and F + HD
• Zeeman deceleration of electron-impact-excited metastable helium atoms
• Trapping cold ground state argon atoms for sympathetic cooling of molecules
• Reduction of local velocity spreads by linear potentials
• Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Resonances in Low-Energy NO-H${}_2$ collisions
• Theoretical description of mixed-field orientation of asymmetric top molecules: a time-dependent study
• Probing resonant energy transfer in collisions of ammonia with Rydberg helium atoms by microwave spectroscopy
• Observation of the P-wave Shape Resonance
• Beyond universality: parametrizing ultracold complex-mediated reactions using statistical assumptions
• Quantum-State Controlled Penning Ionization Reactions between Ultracold Alkali and Metastable Helium Atoms
• Collisions in a dual-species magneto-optical trap of molecules and atoms
• Enhanced coupling of electron and nuclear spins by quantum tunneling resonances
• Imaging scattering resonances in low-energy inelastic ND${}_3$-H${}_2$ collisions
• Generating high density molecular jets of complex neutral organic molecules using micro-sized Tesla valves
• Exploring atom-ion Feshbach resonances below the s-wave limit
• Universal behavior in complex-mediated reactions: Dynamics of S(1D)+ o-D2 --> D + SD at low collision energies
• Feshbach Resonances in Cold Collisions: Benchmarking State of the Art ab initio Potential Energy Surfaces
• Observation of Fermi acceleration with cold atoms
• Single-Source, Collinear Merged-Beam Experiment for the Study of Reactive Neutral-Neutral Collisions
• A novel crossed-molecular-beam experiment for investigating reactions of state- and conformationally selected strong-field-seeking molecules
• In Situ Dynamic Four-Dimensional Strong Field Ionization Tomography
• Electrostatic guiding of the methylidyne radical at cryogenic temperatures
• Spin-state-controlled chemi-ionization reactions between metastable helium atoms and ground-state lithium atoms
• Hyperfine and Zeeman interactions in ultracold collisions of molecular hydrogen with atomic lithium
• Merging Two Molecular Beams of ND${}_3$ up to the Liouville Limit
• Sensitive detection of metastable NO and \ce{N2} by reactive collisions with laser-excited Li