Controlling rotational quenching rates in cold molecular collisions

Abstract

The relative orientation of colliding molecules plays a key role in determining the rates of chemical processes. Here we examine in detail a prototypical example: rotational quenching of HD in cold collisions with H2. We show that the rotational quenching rate from j=2 -> 0, in the v=1 vibrational level, can be maximized by aligning the HD along the collision axis and can be minimized by aligning the HD at the so called magic angle. This follows from quite general helicity considerations and suggests that quenching rates for other similar systems can also be controlled in this manner.

arXiv comment5 Pages, 6 Figures

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Stereodynamical control of a quantum scattering resonance in cold molecular collisions
• The role of low energy resonances in the stereodynamics of cold He+D2 collisions
• Stereodynamics of rotationally inelastic scattering in cold He+HD collisions
• Stereodynamical control of cold collisions between two aligned D2 molecules
• Stereodynamic control of overlapping resonances in cold molecular collisions
• Stereodynamic control of cold rotationally inelastic CO + HD collisions
• On the use of stereodynamical effects to control cold chemical reactions: the H + D${}_2⟷$ D + HD case study
• Unveiling shape resonances in H + HF collisions at cold energies
• Rainbow scattering in rotationally inelastic collisions of HCl and H${}_2$
• Hyperfine and Zeeman interactions in ultracold collisions of molecular hydrogen with atomic lithium