Atomic and molecular collision processes articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Confining atoms to lattices can modify their interaction and collision. Here the authors show suppression of dipolar relaxation in the form of reduced decay rate of dysprosium atoms in quasi-2D regime.

    • Pierre Barral
    • , Michael Cantara
    •  & Wolfgang Ketterle

  • Article
    | Open Access

    While high-energy heavy ions create cylindrical damage zones called ion tracks in many materials, diamond was an exception for a long time. The authors have succeeded in creating the ion tracks in diamond utilizing 2−9MeV C60 fullerene ion irradiation and studied the structure of the tracks.

    • H. Amekura
    • , A. Chettah
    •  & Y. Saitoh

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Photoabsorption and electron capture are known to induce quantum coherence in molecular dynamics. Here, the authors show that a non-resonant inelastic scattering of incoherent electrons induces such a coherence, which is the most general but hitherto unexplored way of triggering the coherent dynamics in a molecule.

    • Akshay Kumar
    • , Suvasis Swain
    •  & Vaibhav S. Prabhudesai

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Associative electronic detachment (AED) reactions of anions play a key role in many natural processes. Here, Hassan and colleagues investigate AED reactions between hydroxyl anions and ultracold rubidium atoms in a hybrid atom-ion trap, revealing different dynamics for collisions with ground and electronically excited state rubidium.

    • Saba Zia Hassan
    • , Jonas Tauch
    •  & Matthias Weidemüller

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Probing resonance features in a scattering process is of fundamental interest. Here the authors discuss the Fano interference due to different angular momentum components in the angle resolved scattering cross section of He*-D2 elastic collisions.

    • Prerna Paliwal
    • , Alexander Blech
    •  & Edvardas Narevicius

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ion storage rings allow reactions to be studied over orders of magnitude in time, bridging the gap between typical experimental and astronomical timescales. Here the authors observe that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fragments produced upon collision with He atoms at velocities typical of stellar winds and supernova shockwaves remain intact up to second timescales, thus may play an important role in interstellar chemistry.

    • Michael Gatchell
    • , João Ameixa
    •  & Henning Zettergren

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Here the authors use Ramsey interferometry to study Tan’s contact in uniform two-dimensional Bose gas of 87Rb atoms across the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless superfluid transition. They find that the two-body contact is continuous across the critical point.

    • Y.-Q. Zou
    • , B. Bakkali-Hassani
    •  & J. Beugnon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The identification of molecular quantum states becomes challenging with increasing complexity of the molecular level structure. Here, the authors non-destructively identified excited molecular states of the \({{\rm{N}}}_{2}^{+}\) by interfering forces applied to both the molecular ion and to a co-trapped atomic ion.

    • Kaveh Najafian
    • , Ziv Meir
    •  & Stefan Willitsch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    There are multiple ways by which energy and charge transfer occur in weakly bound systems. Here the authors reveal a heavy ion N+ transfer in a doubly charged Van der Waals cluster produced in collisions of the highly charged Ne8+ ion with N2Ar, leading to fragmentation of N+ and NAr+ via Coulomb explosion.

    • XiaoLong Zhu
    • , XiaoQing Hu
    •  & X. Ma

  • Article
    | Open Access

    It’s still unclear whether entanglement can be generated, survive, and be observed in hot environments dominated by random collisions. Here, the authors use quantum non-demolition measurement on a hot alkali vapor to put more than ten trillion atoms in a long-lived and spatially extended entangled state.

    • Jia Kong
    • , Ricardo Jiménez-Martínez
    •  & Morgan W. Mitchell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Reactions induced by low-energy electrons in hydrated systems are central to radiation therapy, but a full understanding of their mechanism is lacking. Here the authors investigate the electron-impact induced ionization and subsequent dissociation of tetrahydrofuran, model for biochemically relevant systems, in a micro-solvated environment.

    • Enliang Wang
    • , Xueguang Ren
    •  & Alexander Dorn

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The lifetime of decaying quantum states has been thought to depend on the strength of the coupling causing the decay. Here the authors demonstrate that quantum mechanical interference can dominate this process, observing Fano-Feshbach resonance lifetimes covering several orders of magnitude.

    • Alexander Blech
    • , Yuval Shagam
    •  & Christiane P. Koch

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultrafast molecular relaxation can be probed with short laser pulses. Here the authors study collisional behavior of a N2O and He mixture beyond secular approximation by aligning them using laser pulses and probing their rotational echoes.

    • Junyang Ma
    • , Haisu Zhang
    •  & Olivier Faucher

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Practical calculations of molecular inelastic collisions are computationally very demanding. Here the authors use full-dimensional quantum scattering to calculate energy transfer probabilities in inelastic collision between hydrogen fluoride molecules successfully checked by available experimental vibrational quenching rate.Practical calculations of molecular inelastic collisions are computationally very demanding. Here the authors use full-dimensional quantum scattering to calculate energy transfer probabilities in inelastic collision between hydrogen fluoride molecules successfully checked by available experimental vibrational quenching rate.

    • Dongzheng Yang
    • , Jing Huang
    •  & Daiqian Xie

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultracold polar molecules are an excellent platform for quantum science but experiments so far see fast trap losses that are poorly understood. Here the authors investigate collisional losses of nonreactive RbCs, and show they are consistent with the sticky collision hypothesis, but are slower than the universal rate.

    • Philip D. Gregory
    • , Matthew D. Frye
    •  & Simon L. Cornish

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Spin-changing atomic collisions are important for thermally robust entanglement generation with applications in quantum information. Here the authors demonstrate record high spin state correlations and long spin relaxation times in the collision of two Rb atoms at relatively warm temperatures.

    • Pimonpan Sompet
    • , Stuart S. Szigeti
    •  & Mikkel F. Andersen

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical few-body reactions at ultralow temperatures exhibit scaling laws which are directly linked to the nature of the involved particles and their interactions. Here, the authors investigate the kinetics of four-body collision processes where diatomic molecules which are composed of ultracold fermionic atoms are either formed or dissociated.

    • Daniel K. Hoffmann
    • , Thomas Paintner
    •  & Johannes Hecker Denschlag

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Self-interaction of a bound state through its coupling to the continuum is a phenomenon that is very difficult to observe. Here, the authors optically collide atomic clouds of rubidium and potassium to observe the self-interaction energy through precise measurements of magnetically tunable Feshbach resonances.

    • Ryan Thomas
    • , Matthew Chilcott
    •  & Niels Kjærgaard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Irradiating iron introduces defects such as interstitial dislocation loops, whose exact formation mechanism remains unclear. Here, the authors use large scale molecular dynamics simulations to reveal a punch out mechanism that can directly create < 100 > interstitial dislocation loops.

    • Qing Peng
    • , Fanjiang Meng
    •  & Fei Gao

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Remote sensing of geomagnetic fields in mesosphere is both challenging and interesting to explore the magnetic field structures and atomic collision processes. Here the authors demonstrate an atomic magnetometer that utilizes the Larmor frequency in sodium atoms and operates in kilometers range.

    • Felipe Pedreros Bustos
    • , Domenico Bonaccini Calia
    •  & Simon Rochester

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gas discharge plasma sources are bulky and of limited use in remote areas with no external power supply. Here the authors create triboelectric plasma by triggering TENGs with mechanical stimuli and discuss its application as a portable plasma source.

    • Jia Cheng
    • , Wenbo Ding
    •  & Zhong Lin Wang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Storing quantum memories for a long time is important and challenging for quantum communication. Here the authors demonstrate a storage time of about 1 s using spin exchange relaxation free resonance in cesium vapor.

    • Or Katz
    •  & Ofer Firstenberg

  • Review Article
    | Open Access

    Rydberg molecules have been extensively studied both theoretically and experimentally. Here the authors review the recent developments in the study of various types of Rydberg molecules and their potential for future applications in spectroscopy, sensing and quantum information.

    • J. P. Shaffer
    • , S. T. Rittenhouse
    •  & H. R. Sadeghpour

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Chemical reactions with ultracold atoms and ions are explored so far with the atom–ion interactions. Here the authors discuss spin-exchange process and show that the spin state of an ensemble of neutral Rb atoms can be used to control the final spin of an imbedded Sr+ ion in the collisions.

    • Tomas Sikorsky
    • , Ziv Meir
    •  & Roee Ozeri

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The electric wind mechanism remains unclear. Here, the authors report evidence that electric wind is caused by an electrohydrodynamic force generated by charged particle drag as a result of momentum transfer to neutral particles.

    • Sanghoo Park
    • , Uros Cvelbar
    •  & Se Youn Moon

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The intriguing behaviour of positronium scattering has its role in antimatter studies. Here the authors have predicted the quantum suppression of the cross-section for antihydrogen formation in positronium scattering with antiprotons, by including the excited states and using convergent close-coupling calculations.

    • A. S. Kadyrov
    • , I. Bray
    •  & I. I. Fabrikant

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Studies on energy-dependent scattering of ultracold atoms were previously carried out near zero collision energies. Here, the authors observe a magnetic Feshbach resonance in ultracold Rb collisions for above-threshold energies and their method can also be used to detect higher partial wave resonances.

    • Milena S. J. Horvath
    • , Ryan Thomas
    •  & Niels Kjærgaard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    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.

    • J. F. E. Croft
    • , C. Makrides
    •  & S. Kotochigova

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Investigating the collisional behaviour of molecules on the quantum level is the key in understanding and controlling chemical reactions. Here the authors measure inelastic collision rates for ultracold Rb2dimers in precisely defined quantum states and show that the rates can be tuned via external parameters.

    • Björn Drews
    • , Markus Deiß
    •  & Johannes Hecker Denschlag

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sympathetic cooling of trapped ions with neutral buffer gases is a widespread technique, but its limitations are not entirely understood. Here, the authors examine barion ions immersed in a gas of calcium atoms, and observe nonequlibrium behaviour through bifurcations in the ions steady-state temperatures.

    • Steven J. Schowalter
    • , Alexander J. Dunning
    •  & Eric R. Hudson

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Multiple scattering with wave-like atoms is known to produce non-trivial many-body effects. Here, the authors investigate multiple scattering in the semi-classical limit using deviations in the scattering halos produced by the collision of indistinguishable ultracold fermions.

    • R. Thomas
    • , K. O. Roberts
    •  & N. Kjærgaard

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Ultracold atomic gases with collisional interactions allow the exploration of quantum many-body physics. Here, the authors vary over time the contributions to the interaction energy to coherently control the spin state of an atomic Bose gas, thereby implementing a truly many-body control scheme.

    • T. M. Hoang
    • , M. Anquez
    •  & M. S. Chapman

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Continuous-variables EPR states present a resource for applications to quantum information processing and metrology, but these states have been created until now only with photon pairs. Here, the authors report the creation of an EPR-correlated two-mode squeezed states in an ultracold atomic ensemble.

    • J. Peise
    • , I. Kruse
    •  & C. Klempt

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Understanding the behaviour of trapped two-atom systems is interesting for engineering quantum gases, and one of the key quantities to determine is the inelastic relaxation time from hyperfine states. Here, the authors measure this quantity for heteronuclear systems of 87Rb and 85Rb in a micro optical trap.

    • Peng Xu
    • , Jiaheng Yang
    •  & Mingsheng Zhan

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Super-rotors are fast rotating molecules whose rotational–translational energy transfer is suppressed. Here the authors study the equilibration of super-rotor gases through molecular dynamics simulations, showing the emergence and explosive termination of an anisotropy in the molecular angular distribution.

    • Yuri Khodorkovsky
    • , Uri Steinitz
    •  & Ilya Sh. Averbukh

  • Article |

    Interpreting astronomical observations relies on accurate rate coefficients for molecular vibrational transitions caused by collisions with H2. Yang et al. exploit state-of-the-art inelastic quantum dynamic simulations to provide a full-dimensional computation for rovibrational quenching of CO by H2.

    • Benhui Yang
    • , P. Zhang
    •  & R.C. Forrey

  • Article |

    In ultracold quantum gases, coherent nonequilibrium dynamics has been observed for bosons, but remained elusive in fermionic systems. Here, Will et al. demonstrate coherent quench dynamics in a hybrid quantum system composed of a metallic state of fermionic atoms and a Bose–Einstein condensate.

    • Sebastian Will
    • , Deepak Iyer
    •  & Marcos Rigol

  • Article |

    Spin–orbit-coupled Fermi gases have been shown to support exotic topological quantum states. Here, the authors investigate quench dynamics of these gases in two dimensions, and find that three different phases with different topological properties emerge depending on the behaviour of the order parameter.

    • Ying Dong
    • , Lin Dong
    •  & Han Pu

  • Article |

    Trapped ions and atoms coexist at different temperatures in mixed systems, and cooling of ions through collisions with atoms is required for the mixture to stabilize. Raviet al. study these effects using rubidium atoms and ions, and find a collisional cooling mechanism leading to stability of the mixture.

    • K. Ravi
    • , Seunghyun Lee
    •  & S.A. Rangwala

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Bose–Einstein condensation of excitons in thermal equilibrium is a predicted quantum statistical phenomenon that has been difficult to observe. Yoshiokaet al. cool trapped excitons to sub-Kelvin temperatures and show that condensation manifests itself as a relaxation explosion as has been observed for atomic hydrogen.

    • Kosuke Yoshioka
    • , Eunmi Chae
    •  & Makoto Kuwata-Gonokami

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