Controlling the Stereodynamics of Cold Molecular Collisions

POSTER

Abstract

We report numerically-exact quantum scattering calculations for low-energy collisions of quantum-state prepared HD with H$_2$. Excellent agreement is obtained with recent measurements of Perreault et al. for the angular distribution of scattered HD at a collision energy of $\sim$ 1 K. By state-preparation of the HD molecules, control of the angular distribution of scattered HD was demonstrated. The stereo-dynamic control is achieved by the ability to choose a single or a coherent superposition of quantum states. We present a first-principles simulation of the experiment which enables us to attribute the main features of the observed angular distribution to a single $L=2$ partial-wave shape resonance.

*This work was supported in part by ARO MURI grant No.~W911NF-12-1-0476 (N.B.), NSF grant No.~PHY-1505557 (N.B.), and DOE grant No. DE-SC0015997 (H. G.).

Authors

  • Naduvalath Balakrishnan

    • University of Nevada Las Vegas
    • University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154

  • J. F. E. Croft

    • University of Nevada Las Vegas
    • Department of Physics, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

  • Meng Huang

    • University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131

  • Hua Guo

    • University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131