Research Area 7: Chemical Sciences (7.1 Molecular Dynamics)
Abstract
Major Goals: The major goals of this research program are to investigate the possible control of chemical systems, especially in the ultracold regime, and to study potential applications relevant to chemical samples. More specifically, one of our goals was to explore the possibility of controlling the photo-association rate of pairs of atoms into excited molecules using magnetically tuned Feshbach resonances. The idea is that the molecule formation rate can vary significantly near a Feshbach resonance due to an increase in the Franck-Condon overlap between the ground and excited state wave functions. Furthermore, the increase sensitivity to details near a resonance could also be used as an enhanced spectroscopic tool. A second goal was to study the effect of near-threshold-resonances (NTR) on the reaction rate in benchmark reactive system for chemical physics, namely how the rate coefficient for reaction would change due to the proximity of a resonance, and how one cold use this to modify and control chemical reactions by tuning resonances. A third goal was to explore how charges could also provide a parameter to control chemical processes. The idea is that molecular ions, being easier to trap in more energetic states and for longer time, could also make it possible to control not only the reactants, but also investigate the products. This is very difficult with neutral systems. This last objective would be combined with other approaches described in the two previous goals, i.e. using light induced reactions as well as the proximity of resonances. Accomplishments: As part of our research on the first goal, we explored the possibility of controlling the photoassociation rate of pairs of atoms into excited molecules using magnetically tuned Feshbach resonances.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 24, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1080598
Entities
People
- Robin Cote
Organizations
- University of Connecticut