Determining the nature of quantum resonances by probing elastic and reactive scattering in cold collisions

Abstract

Scattering resonances play a central role in collision processes in physics and chemistry. They help building an intuitive understanding of the collision dynamics due to the spatial localization of the scattering wavefunctions. For resonances that are localized in the reaction region, located at short separation behind the centrifugal barrier, sharp peaks in the reaction rates are the characteristic signature, observed recently with state-of-the-art experiments in low energy collisions. If, however, the localization occurs outside of the reaction region, mostly the elastic scattering is modified. This may occur due to above barrier resonances, the quantum analogue of classical orbiting. By probing both elastic and inelastic scattering of metastable helium with deuterium molecules in merged beam experiments, we differentiate between the nature of quantum resonances -- tunneling vs above barrier -- and corroborate our findings by calculating the corresponding scattering wavefunctions.

arXiv comment15 pages, 6 figures

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• Associative detachment in anion-atom reactions involving a dipole-bound electron
• Fano interference in quantum resonances from angle-resolved elastic scattering
• Energy-scaling of the product state distribution for three-body recombination of ultracold atoms
• Observation of the P-wave Shape Resonance
• Imaging scattering resonances in low-energy inelastic ND${}_3$-H${}_2$ collisions
• Shape resonances in H${}_2$ as photolysis reaction intermediates
• Universal behavior in complex-mediated reactions: Dynamics of S(1D)+ o-D2 --> D + SD at low collision energies
• Probing van der Waals interactions and detecting polar molecules by Förster resonance energy transfer with Rydberg atoms at temperatures below 100 mK
• Floquet-Engineering of Feshbach Resonances in Ultracold Gases
• Quantum suppression of cold reactions far from the s-wave energy limit
• Spin-state-controlled chemi-ionization reactions between metastable helium atoms and ground-state lithium atoms
• A novel crossed-molecular-beam experiment for investigating reactions of state- and conformationally selected strong-field-seeking molecules
• Invariance of quantum scattering rate coefficients to anisotropy of atom-molecule interactions