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arXiv · 2207.08295

Many-body Chemical Reactions in a Quantum Degenerate Gas

Zhendong Zhang·Shu Nagata·Kaixuan Yao·Cheng Chin
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Abstract

Chemical reactions in the quantum degenerate regime are described by mixing of matterwave fields. Quantum coherence and bosonic enhancement are two unique features of many-body reactions involving bosonic reactants and products. Such collective reactions of chemicals, dubbed "super-chemistry", is an elusive goal in quantum chemistry research. Here we report the observation of coherent and collective reactive coupling between Bose condensed atoms and molecules near a Feshbach resonance. Starting from an atomic condensate, the reaction begins with a rapid formation of molecules, followed by oscillations of their populations in the equilibration process. Faster oscillations are observed in samples with higher densities, indicating bosonic enhancement. We present a quantum field model which describes the dynamics well and identifies three-body recombination as the dominant reaction process. Our findings exemplify the highly sought-after quantum many-body chemistry and offer a new paradigm for the control of quantum chemical reactions.

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Zhendong Zhang, Shu Nagata, Kaixuan Yao, Cheng Chin. 2022-07-17. Many-body Chemical Reactions in a Quantum Degenerate Gas. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02139-8

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