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# Cold quantum-controlled rotationally inelastic scattering of HD with H2 and D2 reveals collisional partner reorientation

## Abstract

Molecular interactions are best probed by scattering experiments. Interpretation of these studies has been limited by lack of control over the quantum states of the incoming collision partners. We report here the rotationally inelastic collisions of quantum-state prepared deuterium hydride (HD) with H2 and D2 using a method that provides an improved control over the input states. HD was coexpanded with its partner in a single supersonic beam, which reduced the collision temperature to 0–5 K, and thereby restricted the involved incoming partial waves to s and p. By preparing HD with its bond axis preferentially aligned parallel and perpendicular to the relative velocity of the colliding partners, we observed that the rotational relaxation of HD depends strongly on the initial bond-axis orientation. We developed a partial-wave analysis that conclusively demonstrates that the scattering mechanism involves the exchange of internal angular momentum between the colliding partners. The striking differences between H2/HD and D2/HD scattering suggest the presence of anisotropically sensitive resonances.

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## Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the US Army Research Office under ARO Grant No. W911NF-16-1-1061 and MURI Grant No. W911NF-12-1-0476.

## Author information

Authors

### Contributions

All authors conceived of this study. W.E.P. and N.M. carried out the experimental work. N.M. developed the partial-wave analysis used to interpret the data. All the authors wrote the paper.

### Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Nandini Mukherjee or Richard N. Zare.

## Ethics declarations

### Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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## Supplementary information

### Supplementary Information

Supplementary Results and Analysis, Supplementary Tables 1–9

## Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Perreault, W.E., Mukherjee, N. & Zare, R.N. Cold quantum-controlled rotationally inelastic scattering of HD with H2 and D2 reveals collisional partner reorientation. Nature Chem 10, 561–567 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-018-0028-5

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