Controlling few-body reaction pathways using a Feshbach resonance

authored by: Shinsuke Haze, Jing Lun Li, Dominik Dorer, José P. D’Incao, Paul S. Julienne, Eberhard Tiemann, Markus Deiß, Johannes Hecker Denschlag
Abstract: Gaining control over chemical reactions at the quantum level is a central goal of cold and ultracold chemistry. Here we demonstrate a method for coherently steering the reaction flux across different product spin channels for a three-body recombination process in a cloud of trapped cold atoms. We use a magnetically tunable Feshbach resonance to admix, in a controlled way, a specific spin state to the reacting collision complex. This allows us to control the reaction flux into the admixed spin channel, which can be used to alter the reaction products. We also investigate the influence of an Efimov resonance on the reaction dynamics, observing a global enhancement of three-body recombination without favouring particular reaction channels. Our control scheme can be extended to other reaction processes and could be combined with other methods, such as quantum interference of reaction paths, to achieve further tuning capabilities of few-body reactions.
Organisation(s): Institute of Quantum Optics
External Organisation(s): Ulm University
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Maryland
Type: Article
Journal: Nature physics
Volume: 21
No. of pages: 7
ISSN: 1745-2473
Publication date: 02.2025
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General Physics and Astronomy
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.14922 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02726-3 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{73d56893db79419fa2e57baefa2173c5,
title = "Controlling few-body reaction pathways using a Feshbach resonance",
abstract = "Gaining control over chemical reactions at the quantum level is a central goal of cold and ultracold chemistry. Here we demonstrate a method for coherently steering the reaction flux across different product spin channels for a three-body recombination process in a cloud of trapped cold atoms. We use a magnetically tunable Feshbach resonance to admix, in a controlled way, a specific spin state to the reacting collision complex. This allows us to control the reaction flux into the admixed spin channel, which can be used to alter the reaction products. We also investigate the influence of an Efimov resonance on the reaction dynamics, observing a global enhancement of three-body recombination without favouring particular reaction channels. Our control scheme can be extended to other reaction processes and could be combined with other methods, such as quantum interference of reaction paths, to achieve further tuning capabilities of few-body reactions.",
author = "Shinsuke Haze and Li, {Jing Lun} and Dominik Dorer and D{\textquoteright}Incao, {Jos{\'e} P.} and Julienne, {Paul S.} and Eberhard Tiemann and Markus Dei{\ss} and {Hecker Denschlag}, Johannes",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2025.",
year = "2025",
month = feb,
doi = "10.48550/arXiv.2408.14922",
language = "English",
volume = "21",
journal = "Nature physics",
issn = "1745-2473",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
}