Ultracold chemistry with alkali-metal-rare-earth molecules

Abstract

A first principles study of the dynamics of ${}^6$Li(${}^2$S) + ${}^6$Li${}^{174}$Yb(${}^2{\Sigma }^{+}$)${\to }^6$Li${}_2{(}^1{\Sigma }^{+}$) + ${}^{174}$Yb(${}^1$S) reaction is presented at cold and ultracold temperatures. The computations involve determination and analytic fitting of a three-dimensional potential energy surface for the Li${}_2$Yb system and quantum dynamics calculations of varying complexities, ranging from exact quantum dynamics within the close-coupling scheme, to statistical quantum treatment, and universal models. It is demonstrated that the two simplified methods yield zero-temperature limiting reaction rate coefficients in reasonable agreement with the full close-coupling calculations. The effect of the three-body term in the interaction potential is explored by comparing quantum dynamics results from a pairwise potential that neglects the three-body term to that derived from the full interaction potential. Inclusion of the three-body term in the close-coupling calculations was found to reduce the limiting rate coefficients by a factor of two. The reaction exoergicity populates vibrational levels as high as $v=19$ of the ${}^6$Li${}_2$ molecule in the limit of zero collision energy. Product vibrational distributions from the close-coupling calculations reveal sensitivity to inclusion of three-body forces in the interaction potential. Overall, the results indicate that a simplified model based on the long-range potential is able to yield reliable values of the total reaction rate coefficient in the ultracold limit but a more rigorous approach based on statistical quantum or quantum close-coupling methods is desirable when product rovibrational distribution is required.

arXiv comment12 pages, 9 figures

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Cited by in corpus (14)

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• Feshbach resonances in $p$-wave three-body recombination within Fermi-Fermi mixtures of open-shell ${}^6$Li and closed-shell ${}^{173}$Yb atoms
• Quantum spin state selectivity and magnetic tuning of ultracold chemical reactions of triplet alkali-metal dimers with alkali-metal atoms
• Molecular Collisions: from Near-cold to Ultra-cold
• Classical threshold law for the formation of van der Waals molecules
• Geometric Phase Effects in the Ultracold D + HD $\to$ D + HD and D + HD $\leftrightarrow$ H + D${}_2$ Reactions
• Magnetic tuning of ultracold barrierless chemical reactions
• Laser control of ultracold molecule formation: The case of RbSr
• Signatures of Non-universal Quantum Dynamics of Ultracold Chemical Reactions of Polar Alkali-dimer Molecules with Alkali-metal Atoms: Li(${}^2$S) +NaLi($a^3{\Sigma }^{+}$) $\to$ Na(${}^2$S) + Li${}_2$($a^3{\Sigma }_u^{+}$)
• Probing the Efimov discrete scaling in atom-molecule collision
• The Li + CaF $\to$ Ca + LiF chemical reaction under cold conditions
• Product-state distribution after isotopic substitution in ultracold atom-molecule collisions
• Multichannel quantum-defect theory for anisotropic interactions
• Non-adiabatic quantum interference effects and chaoticity in the ultracold Li + LiNa $\to$ Li${}_2$ + Na reaction