7 research outputs found
Experimental investigation of ultracold atom-molecule collisions
Ultracold collisions between Cs atoms and Cs2 dimers in the electronic ground
state are observed in an optically trapped gas of atoms and molecules. The Cs2
molecules are formed in the triplet ground state by cw-photoassociation through
the outer well of the 0g-(P3/2) excited electronic state. Inelastic
atom-molecule collisions converting internal excitation into kinetic energy
lead to a loss of Cs2 molecules from the dipole trap. Rate coefficients are
determined for collisions involving Cs atoms in either the F=3 or F=4 hyperfine
ground state and Cs2 molecules in either highly vibrationally excited states
(v'=32-47) or in low vibrational states (v'=4-6) of the a ^3 Sigma_u^+ triplet
ground state. The rate coefficients beta ~10^{-10} cm^3/s are found to be
largely independent of the vibrational and rotational excitation indicating
unitary limited cross sections.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted for publicatio
Formation and interactions of cold and ultracold molecules: new challenges for interdisciplinary physics
Progress on researches in the field of molecules at cold and ultracold
temperatures is reported in this review. It covers extensively the experimental
methods to produce, detect and characterize cold and ultracold molecules
including association of ultracold atoms, deceleration by external fields and
kinematic cooling. Confinement of molecules in different kinds of traps is also
discussed. The basic theoretical issues related to the knowledge of the
molecular structure, the atom-molecule and molecule-molecule mutual
interactions, and to their possible manipulation and control with external
fields, are reviewed. A short discussion on the broad area of applications
completes the review.Comment: to appear in Reports on Progress in Physic
Molecular excitation in the Interstellar Medium: recent advances in collisional, radiative and chemical processes
We review the different excitation processes in the interstellar mediumComment: Accepted in Chem. Re
Ultracold Chemistry with Alkali-metal-rare-earth Molecules
A first principles study of the dynamics of Li6(2S)+Li6Yb174(2ÎŁ+)â6Li2(1ÎŁ+) + Yb174(1S) reaction is presented at cold and ultracold temperatures. The computations involve determination and analytic fitting of a three-dimensional potential energy surface for the Li2Yb 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 Li62 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