Interactions and dynamics in Li+Li2 ultracold collisions

A neural network potential energy surface of the Li3 system and quantum dynamics studies for the 7Li + 6Li2 → 6Li7Li + 6Li reaction

A high-precision global potential energy surface (PES) of the Li3 system is constructed based on high-level ab initio calculations, and the root-mean-square error is 5.54 cm-1. The short-range of the PES is fitted by the fundamental invariant neural network (FI-NN) method, while the long-range uses a function with an accurate asymptotic potential energy form, and the two regions are connected by a switching function. Based on the new PES, the statistical quantum-mechanical (SQM) and the time-dependent wave packet (TDWP) methods are used to study the dynamics of 7Li + 6Li2 (v = 0, j = 0) → 6Li7Li + 6Li reactions in the low collision energy region (10-11 to 10-3 cm-1) and the high collision energy region (8 to 800 cm-1), respectively. In the high collision energy region, the calculation results of the SQM method and the TDWP method are inconsistent, indicating that the reaction dynamics does not follow the statistical behavior in the high collision energy region. In addition, we found that the Coriolis coupling effect plays an important role in this reaction. The symmetric forward-backward scattering in the total DCS indicates that the reaction follows the complex-forming reaction mechanism.

Potential Energy Surfaces and Arrangement Effects of RbNa2 Complex

Ab initio calculations of alkaline diatomic molecule interactions with alkaline atoms provide detailed information about their electronic structure, vibrational frequencies, and spectroscopic properties, which are difficult to measure experimentally. This knowledge can aid in designing and interpreting experiments and guide the development of computational models and advanced dynamical calculation. Using the quantum chemistry ab initio methods based on multi-reference configuration interaction with Davidson correction (MCSCF/MRCI + Q), atomic effective core potentials, core-polarization potentials, and the interactions between the sodium atom and the NaRb diatomic molecule are investigated. To describe the potential energy surfaces of the RbNa2 system, we introduce two geometries described in the Z-matrix coordinates (Re, R, θ). Potential energy surfaces of the ground state 12A' and the first excited state 22A' were calculated for different approach directions of the sodium atom to the NaRb molecule and two geometries were considered. The first geometry is where the Na atom approaches the Rb atom of the RbNa dimer, and the second one is when it approaches the Na atom of the RbNa dimer. Global minima of the ground and first excited states and conical intersections between these states are determined for both geometries. The RbNa dimer in interaction with the sodium atom is found to be strongly attractive in its first excited state, which may be important for the experimenters particularly in the field of cold alkali polar dimers. Thereafter, the potential energy curves correlated to the lowest-lying dissociation limits are calculated in the linear form for the two geometrical cases (angle θ at 180°) and the atomic arrangement effect is observed.

Signatures of Non-universal Quantum Dynamics of Ultracold Chemical Reactions of Polar Alkali Dimer Molecules with Alkali Metal Atoms: Li(2S) + NaLi(a3Σ+) → Na(2S) + Li2(a3Σu+)

Ultracold chemical reactions of weakly bound triplet-state alkali metal dimer molecules have recently attracted much experimental interest. We perform rigorous quantum scattering calculations with a new ab initio potential energy surface to explore the chemical reaction of spin-polarized NaLi(a³Σ⁺) and Li(²S) to form Li₂(a³Σ_u⁺) and Na(²S). The reaction is exothermic and proceeds readily at ultralow temperatures. Significantly, we observe strong sensitivity of the total reaction rate to small variations of the three-body part of the Li₂Na interaction at short range, which we attribute to a relatively small number of open Li₂(a³Σ_u⁺) product channels populated in the reaction. This provides the first signature of highly non-universal dynamics seen in rigorous quantum reactive scattering calculations of an ultracold exothermic insertion reaction involving a polar alkali dimer molecule, opening up the possibility of probing microscopic interactions in atom+molecule collision complexes via ultracold reactive scattering experiments.

Universality and chaoticity in ultracold K+KRb chemical reactions

A fundamental question in the study of chemical reactions is how reactions proceed at a collision energy close to absolute zero. This question is no longer hypothetical: quantum degenerate gases of atoms and molecules can now be created at temperatures lower than a few tens of nanokelvin. Here we consider the benchmark ultracold reaction between, the most-celebrated ultracold molecule, KRb and K. We map out an accurate ab initio ground-state potential energy surface of the K₂Rb complex in full dimensionality and report numerically-exact quantum-mechanical reaction dynamics. The distribution of rotationally resolved rates is shown to be Poissonian. An analysis of the hyperspherical adiabatic potential curves explains this statistical character revealing a chaotic distribution for the short-range collision complex that plays a key role in governing the reaction outcome.

Studying chemical reactions near zero temperature in detail is challenging both in theory and practice. Here the authors report an explicit quantum mechanical study of the benchmark ultracold reaction between a K atom and a KRb molecule, important for future controlled chemistry experiments.

The geometric phase controls ultracold chemistry

The geometric phase is shown to control the outcome of an ultracold chemical reaction. The control is a direct consequence of the sign change on the interference term between two scattering pathways (direct and looping), which contribute to the reactive collision process in the presence of a conical intersection (point of degeneracy between two Born-Oppenheimer electronic potential energy surfaces). The unique properties of the ultracold energy regime lead to an effective quantization of the scattering phase shift enabling maximum constructive or destructive interference between the two pathways. By taking the O+OH→H+O2 reaction as an illustrative example, it is shown that inclusion of the geometric phase modifies ultracold reaction rates by nearly two orders of magnitude. Interesting experimental control possibilities include the application of external electric and magnetic fields that might be used to exploit the geometric phase effect reported here and experimentally switch on or off the reactivity.

The role of orbiting resonances in the vibrational relaxation of I(2)(B,v' = 21) by collisions with He at very low energies: a theoretical and experimental study

The low-energy collisions of I(2)(B,v' = 21) with He involving collision-induced vibrational relaxation of I(2) are investigated both experimentally and by means of wave packet simulations. The theoretical cross sections exhibit a structure of peaks originated by orbiting resonances of the I(2)(B,v' = 21) - He van der Waals complex formed in the I(2) + He collisions. Such a structure has similar characteristics as the structure of peaks found in the experimental cross sections. In fact, four of the five peaks of the measured cross sections appear at positions nearly coincident with those of four of the peaks found in the theoretical cross sections. Thus this result confirms the experimental finding that enhancement of I(2) vibrational relaxation is caused by the population of I(2)(B,v' = 21) - He orbiting resonances populated upon the low-energy collisions. The possibility of using this mechanism in the vibrational cooling of diatomic molecules is discussed.

Geometric phase for collinear conical intersections. I. Geometric phase angle and vector potentials

We present a method for properly treating collinear conical intersections in triatomic systems. The general vector potential (gauge theory) approach for including the geometric phase effects associated with collinear conical intersections in hyperspherical coordinates is presented. The current study develops an introductory method in the treatment of collinear conical intersections by using the phase angle method. The geometric phase angle, η, in terms of purely internal coordinates is derived using the example of a spin-aligned quartet lithium triatomic system. A numerical fit and thus an analytical form for the associated vector potentials are explicitly derived for this triatomic A(3) system. The application of this methodology to AB(2) and ABC systems is also discussed.

Design of infrared laser pulses for the vibrational de-excitation of translationally cold Li2 molecules

In connection with attempts to form molecular Bose-Einstein condensates, there have been reports in the literature of the preparation of samples of translationally cold alkali metal dimers. The molecules in these samples are generally in excited vibrational levels. To form a stable Bose-Einstein condensate, the molecules must be de-excited to their lowest vibrational state. In this paper, we demonstrate that through the use of optimal control theory, it is possible to design a sequence of infrared laser pulses that will de-excite a sample of (7)Li2 molecules from the v = 10 vibrational level of their (1)Sigma(g)+ ground electronic state to their lowest v = 0 vibrational level with an overall efficiency of 91.1%.

Potential energy surfaces for the 1 (4)A('), 2 (4)A(') 1 (4)A(") and 2 (4)A(") states of Li(3)

Global potential energy surfaces for the 1 (4)A('), 2 (4)A('), 1 (4)A("), and 2 (4)A(") spin-aligned states of Li(3) are constructed as sums of a diatomics-in-molecules (DIM) term plus a three-body term. The DIM model, using a large basis set of 15 (4)A(") and 22 (4)A(') states, is used to obtain a "mixed-pairwise additive" contribution to the potential. A global fit of the three-body terms conserves the accuracy of the ab initio points of a full configuration-interaction calculation. The resulting fit accurately describes conical intersections for both the 1 (4)A(') and 2 (4)A(') surfaces with a root-mean-square (rms) deviation of 5.4x10(-5) hartree in D(infinityh) geometries and 1.2x10(-4) hartree in C(infinityv) geometries. The global fit appears to be quantitatively correct with a rms deviation of 1.8x10(-4)hartree for 1 (4)A('), 9.2x10(-4) hartree for 2 (4)A('), 2.5x10(-4) hartree for 1 (4)A("), and 5.1x10(-4) hartree for 2 (4)A("). A possible diabolic conical intersection, also called an accidental degeneracy, in C(2v) geometries, indicating a seam of conical intersections in C(s) geometries, is also found in ab initio calculations for A(2) states. As shown in this example, the DIM procedure can be optimized to describe the geometric phase and nonadiabatic effects in multisurface potentials.

Laser-catalyzed production of ultracold molecules: the 6Li+6Li7Li-->homega6Li-6Li+7Li reaction

We show that by using laser catalysis, we can employ translationally cold (Tr approximately 1.75 K) collisions to produce ultracold (0.01 mK<Tp<1 mK) (homonuclear) molecules. We illustrate this approach by studying the laser catalysis of the 6Li+6Li7Li-->homega(6Li6Li7Li)*(1(4)A'')-->homega6Li6Li+7Li reaction in the collinear approximation. Ultracold 6Li6Li product molecules are shown to be produced at an extraordinary yield of up to 99.97%, using moderate laser intensities of I=100 kW/cm(2)-10 MW/cm2.

Absolute level-resolved reactive and inelastic rate constants in Li+Li2*

We have used nuclear parity-changing collisions to obtain absolute level-to-level rate constants for reactive scattering in a triatomic system with identical nuclei. We have determined rate constants for the system (7)Li(2) (*)(A (1)Sigma(u) (+))(v(i)=2,j(i)=19)+(7)Li-->(7)Li+(7)Li(2) (*)(A (1)Sigma(u) (+))(v(f),j(f)), from laser-induced fluorescence spectra of lithium vapor in a heat pipe oven. Parity-preserving collisions yielded measurements of absolute rotationally and vibrationally inelastic rate constants as well. We compare the reactive rate constants with statistical prior distributions and the inelastic results with previously measured results on the Ne+(7)Li(2) (*) system.

Theory of laser enhancement of ultracold reactions: the fermion-boson population transfer by adiabatic passage of 6Li+6Li7Li(Tr=1 mK)-->6Li6Li+7Li(Tp=1 mK)

We present a new theory of population transfer by adiabatic passage. This theory relates laser catalysis to adiabatic passage, enhancing chemical reactions with the freedom to choose the translational energies of the reactants and products separately. The process, A+BC<-->(Planck's over omega(p) )ABC*(v)<-->(Planck's over omega(s))AB+C, involves two laser fields that are slowly varying so the process is adiabatic, and sufficiently intense so the population of the intermediate bound complex (ABC) is minimized. We apply this theory to the collinear exchange reaction (6)Li+(7)Li(2)(T(r))<-->(Planck's over omega(p))((6)Li(7)Li(7)Li)*<-->(variant Planck's over 2piomega(s) ) (6)Li(7)Li(T(p))+(7)Li. We show that at translational energies T(p)=T(r)=1 mK with a narrow energy bandwidth of delta(E)=0.01 mK, we can obtain nearly total (> or =98%) population transfer from the reactant to the product states. This can be done with a pump laser and a Stokes laser in an "intuitive" sequence (t(p)<t(s)) at a low intensity (I(p)< or =600 MW/cm(2)) and a "coincident" sequence (t(p)=t(s)) at a higher intensity.