Directly probing anisotropy in atom-molecule collisions through quantum scattering resonances

Klein A, Shagam Y, Skomorowski W, Zuchowski PS, Pawlak M, Janssen LMC, Moiseyev N, Van De Meerakker SYT, Van Der Avoird A, Koch CP, Narevicius E (2017)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Journal

Nature Physics Nature Research

Book Volume: 13

Pages Range: 35-38

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/nphys3904

Abstract

Anisotropy is a fundamental property of particle interactions. It occupies a central role in cold and ultracold molecular processes, where orientation-dependent long-range forces have been studied in ultracold polar molecule collisions. In the cold collisions regime, quantization of the intermolecular degrees of freedom leads to quantum scattering resonances. Although these states have been shown to be sensitive to details of the interaction potential, the effect of anisotropy on quantum resonances has so far eluded experimental observation. Here, we directly measure the anisotropy in atom-molecule interactions via quantum resonances by changing the quantum state of the internal molecular rotor. We observe that a quantum scattering resonance at a collision energy of k B × 270 mK appears in the Penning ionization of molecular hydrogen with metastable helium only if the molecule is rotationally excited. We use state-of-the-art ab initio theory to show that control over the rotational state effectively switches the anisotropy on or off, disentangling the isotropic and anisotropic parts of the interaction.

Involved external institutions

Weizmann Institute of Science IL Israel (IL) Universität Kassel DE Germany (DE) Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) / Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu (UMK) PL Poland (PL) Technion - Israel Institute of Technology IL Israel (IL) Radboud University Nijmegen NL Netherlands (NL) Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Klein, A., Shagam, Y., Skomorowski, W., Zuchowski, P.S., Pawlak, M., Janssen, L.M.C.,... Narevicius, E. (2017). Directly probing anisotropy in atom-molecule collisions through quantum scattering resonances. Nature Physics, 13(1), 35-38. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3904

MLA:

Klein, Ayelet, et al. "Directly probing anisotropy in atom-molecule collisions through quantum scattering resonances." Nature Physics 13.1 (2017): 35-38.

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