Atomic and molecular collision processes articles within Nature Physics

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  • Review Article |

    Molecular ions and hybrid platforms that integrate cold trapped ions and neutral particles offer opportunities for many quantum technologies. This Review surveys recent methodological advances and highlights in the study of cold molecular ions.

    • Markus Deiß
    • , Stefan Willitsch
    •  & Johannes Hecker Denschlag

  • Article |

    The high inelastic loss rate in gases of bosonic molecules has so far hindered the stabilization needed to reach quantum degeneracy. Now, an experiment using microwave shielding demonstrates a large reduction of losses for bosonic dipolar molecules.

    • Niccolò Bigagli
    • , Claire Warner
    •  & Sebastian Will

  • News & Views |

    A new binding mechanism between trapped laser-cooled ions and atoms has been observed. This advancement offers a novel control knob over chemical reactions and inelastic processes on the single particle limit.

    • Pascal Weckesser

  • Article |

    The formation of molecules in binary particle collisions is forbidden in free space, but the presence of an external trapping potential now enables the realization of bound states in ultracold atom–ion collisions.

    • Meirav Pinkas
    • , Or Katz
    •  & Roee Ozeri

  • Article |

    Many applications of ultracold molecules require high densities that have been difficult to reach. An experiment now demonstrates the tight magnetic confinement of ultracold molecules, enabling the study of molecular collisions in the quantum regime.

    • Juliana J. Park
    • , Yu-Kun Lu
    •  & Wolfgang Ketterle

  • Research Briefing |

    The collective dynamics observed between Bose-condensed atoms and molecules indicate the occurence of macroscopic quantum phenomena. Experimental investigations found that the atomic and molecular populations oscillate at a frequency that scales with the sample size, providing evidence for bosonic enhancement. These findings could make many-body quantum dynamics accessible in ultracold molecule research.

  • Article |

    A common technique to cool down molecular ions is through collisions with a buffer gas, but that is limited by the achievable temperature of the medium. Now, an experiment demonstrates the evaporative cooling of molecular ions below previously reached temperatures.

    • Jonas Tauch
    • , Saba Z. Hassan
    •  & Matthias Weidemüller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The realization of ultracold molecules in higher bands of an optical lattice sets the stage for the study of the interplay between orbital physics and the Bose–Einstein condensation and Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer superfluidity crossover.

    • Yann Kiefer
    • , Max Hachmann
    •  & Andreas Hemmerich

  • News & Views |

    Noble gas nuclear spins can store quantum information for hours but are hard to control. Creating a large coherent coupling to an alkali vapour gives a route to manipulating the collective nuclear spin of a helium-3 gas.

    • Alice Sinatra

  • News & Views |

    Controlling chemistry at the single-collision level is one of the main goals of experiments at ultralow temperatures. A method based on quantum logic techniques has now been shown to detect inelastic collisions in a hybrid ion–atom platform.

    • Michał Tomza

  • Article |

    The study of single-atom collisions in ultracold gases has so far been limited to certain atomic and molecular species. A more general scheme based on quantum logic techniques has now been realized in a hybrid cold ion–atom platform.

    • Or Katz
    • , Meirav Pinkas
    •  & Roee Ozeri

  • Review Article |

    The detailed structure of each atomic species determines what physics can be achieved with ultracold gases. This review discusses the exciting applications that follow from lanthanides’ complex electronic structure.

    • Matthew A. Norcia
    •  & Francesca Ferlaino

  • News & Views |

    Cooling of trapped ions with a neutral buffer gas makes the study of atom–ion hybrid systems possible in the quantum regime. The new record low achieved opens the door to numerous opportunities, including full control over the atom–ion interactions.

    • Carlo Sias

  • Letter |

    Cooling an atom–ion hybrid system and bringing it into the quantum regime is challenging owing to the unavoidable heating caused by atom–ion collisions. Here a new record low is achieved in such a system, and the quantum effect starts to manifest.

    • T. Feldker
    • , H. Fürst
    •  & R. Gerritsma

  • Article |

    A highly precise measurement of an optical transition in the helium atom has been obtained using state-of-the-art techniques. The result provides a stringent test of QED theory at low energy levels with tools of atomic physics.

    • R. J. Rengelink
    • , Y. van der Werf
    •  & W. Vassen

  • Article |

    The authors study intermolecular Coulomb decay that occurs in a sample of THF and water in a reaction microscope employing triple-coincidence measurements of two ions and one electron. They find that ICD is a previously unconsidered effect between water and other organic molecules that are hydrogen-bonded, with ICD outpacing proton transfer.

    • Xueguang Ren
    • , Enliang Wang
    •  & Alexander Dorn

  • Measure for Measure |

    Michael Jentschel and Klaus Blaum explain why the most famous equation of physics needs checking — and how to do it.

    • Michael Jentschel
    •  & Klaus Blaum

  • News & Views |

    Dissociating hydrogen gas seems like it should be as easy as pulling apart two identical atoms. But resonant electron-impact experiments reveal that quantum interference induces a fundamental asymmetry in the process.

    • Daniel S. Slaughter
    •  & Thomas N. Rescigno

  • Article |

    Resonant electron attachment and subsequent dissociation of diatomic molecules is shown to exhibit spatial asymmetry as a consequence of coherent excitation and subsequent interference between reaction pathways.

    • E. Krishnakumar
    • , Vaibhav S. Prabhudesai
    •  & Nigel J. Mason

  • Progress Article |

    Recent progress in engineering quantum gases of polar molecules brings closer their application in fundamental tests, ultracold chemistry and the study of new quantum phases of matter.

    • Steven A. Moses
    • , Jacob P. Covey
    •  & Jun Ye

  • News & Views |

    Cold collisions between hydrogen molecules and helium atoms reveal how the change from spherical to non-spherical symmetry creates a quantum scattering resonance.

    • Roland Wester

  • News & Views |

    Three papers published in Nature Physics in 2009 revealed the intriguing three- and four-body bound states arising from the predictions by Vitaly Efimov nearly half a century ago. But some of these findings continue to puzzle the few-body physics community.

    • Cheng Chin
    •  & Yujun Wang

  • Letter |

    Understanding low-temperature molecular collisions is challenging, but using non-resonant photodetachment makes it possible to study the state-resolved dynamics of the inelastic collisions between hydroxyl ions and cold helium buffer gas.

    • Daniel Hauser
    • , Seunghyun Lee
    •  & Roland Wester

  • News & Views |

    Solitons in attractive Bose–Einstein condensates are mesoscopic quantum objects that may prove useful as tools for precision measurement. A new experiment shows that collisions of matter-wave bright solitons depend crucially on their relative phase.

    • Thomas P. Billam
    •  & Christoph Weiss

  • News & Views |

    One of the fundamental problems in few-body physics is the formation of diatomic molecules in three-atom collisions. An experimental technique now explores the resulting distribution of molecular quantum states in an ultracold gas.

    • Stefan Willitsch

  • News & Views |

    Hybrid traps for laser-cooled ions and neutral atoms make excellent cold-chemistry laboratories. Experiments now show that engineering quantum states can provide additional control for accessing and manipulating chemical reaction rates.

    • Paul S. Julienne

  • Letter |

    Chemical reactions between a single trapped ion and a condensate of ultracold neutral atoms are investigated by controlling the quantum states of both ion and atoms—revealing the effect of the hyperfine interaction on the reaction dynamics.

    • Lothar Ratschbacher
    • , Christoph Zipkes
    •  & Michael Köhl

  • Letter |

    According to Heisenberg, the more precisely, say, the position of a particle is measured, the less precisely we can determine its momentum. The uncertainty principle in its original form ignores, however, the unavoidable effect of recoil in the measuring device. An experimental test now validates an alternative relation, and the uncertainty principle in its original formulation is broken.

    • Jacqueline Erhart
    • , Stephan Sponar
    •  & Yuji Hasegawa

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