Quantum energy flow in atomic ions moving in magnetic fields

Using a combination of semiclassical and recently developed wave packet propagation techniques we find the quantum self-ionization process of highly excited ions moving in magnetic fields which has its origin in the energy transfer from the center of mass to the electronic motion. It obeys a time scale by orders of magnitude larger than the corresponding classical process. Importantly a quantum coherence phenomenon leading to the intermittent behaviour of the ionization signal is found and analyzed. Universal properties of the ionization process are established.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Quantum dynamics of resonant molecule formation in waveguides

We explore the quantum dynamics of heteronuclear atomic collisions in waveguides and demonstrate the existence of a novel mechanism for the resonant formation of polar molecules. The molecular formation probabilities can be tuned by changing the trap frequencies characterizing the transverse modes of the atomic species. The origin of this effect is the confinement-induced mixing of the relative and center of mass motions in the atomic collision process leading to a coupling of the diatomic continuum to center of mass excited molecular states in closed transverse channels.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Mathematical Modeling of Resonant Processes in Confined Geometry of Atomic and Atom-Ion Traps

We discuss computational aspects of the developed mathematical models for resonant processes in confined geometry of atomic and atom-ion traps. The main attention is paid to formulation in the nondirect product discrete-variable representation (npDVR) of the multichannel scattering problem with nonseparable angular part in confining traps as the boundary-value problem. Computational efficiency of this approach is demonstrated in application to atomic and atom-ion confinement-induced resonances we predicted recently

Suppression of Quantum Scattering in Strongly Confined Systems

We demonstrate that scattering of particles strongly interacting in three dimensions (3D) can be suppressed at low energies in a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) confinement. The underlying mechanism is the interference of the s- and p-wave scattering contributions with large s- and p-wave 3D scattering lengths being a necessary prerequisite. This low-dimensional quantum scattering effect might be useful in "interacting" quasi-1D ultracold atomic gases, guided atom interferometry, and impurity scattering in strongly confined quantum wire-based electronic devices.Comment: 3 figs, Phys. Rev. Lett. (early November issue