arXiv subjects

Jeremy M. Hutson

Publications and source records attributed to Jeremy M. Hutson.

134 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Cold collisions of OH and Rb. I: the free collision

We have calculated elastic and state-resolved inelastic cross sections for cold and ultracold collisions in the Rb($^1 S$) + OH($^2 Π_{3/2}$) system, including fine-structure and hyperfine effects. We have developed a new set of five potential energy surfaces for Rb-OH($^2 Π$) from high-level {\em ab initio} electronic structure calculations, which exhibit conical intersections between covalent and ion-pair states. The surfaces are transformed to a quasidiabatic representation. The collision problem is expanded in a set of channels suitable for handling the system in the presence of electric and/or magnetic fields, although we consider the zero-field limit in this work. Because of the large number of scattering channels involved, we propose and make use of suitable approximations. To account for the hyperfine structure of both collision partners in the short-range region we develop a frame-transformation procedure which includes most of the hyperfine Hamiltonian. Scattering cross sections on the order of $10^{-13}$ cm$^2$ are predicted for temperatures typical of Stark decelerators. We also conclude that spin orientation of the partners is completely disrupted during the collision. Implications for both sympathetic cooling of OH molecules in an environment of ultracold Rb atoms and experimental observability of the collisions are discussed.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2006

Molecule formation in ultracold atomic gases

This review describes recent experimental and theoretical advances in forming molecules in ultracold gases of trapped alkali metal atoms, both by magnetic tuning through Feshbach resonances and by photoassociation. Molecular Bose-Einstein condensation of long-range states of both boson dimers and fermion dimers was achieved in 2002-3. Condensates of boson dimers were found to be short-lived, but long-lived condensates of fermion dimers have been produced. Signatures of triatomic and tetraatomic molecules have recently been observed. Both homonuclear and heteronuclear molecules have been formed by photoassociation, mostly in very high vibrational levels. Recent attempts to produce ultracold molecules in short-range states (low vibrational levels) are described. Experimental and theoretical work on collisions of ultracold molecules is discussed.

physics.chem-ph↗

arXiv2005

Long range intermolecular forces in triatomic systems: connecting the atom-diatom and atom-atom-atom representations

The long-range forces that act between three atoms are analysed in both atom-diatom and atom-atom-atom representations. Expressions for atom-diatom dispersion coefficients are obtained in terms of 3-body nonadditive coefficients. The anisotropy of atom-diatom C_6 dispersion coefficients arises primarily from nonadditive triple-dipole and quadruple-dipole forces, while pairwise-additive forces and nonadditive triple-dipole and dipole-dipole-quadrupole forces contribute significantly to atom-diatom C_8 coefficients. The resulting expressions are applied to dispersion coefficients for Li + Li_2 (triplet) and recommendations are made for the best way to obtain global triatomic potentials that dissociate correctly both to three separated atoms and to an atom and a diatomic molecule.

physics.atm-clus↗

arXiv2005

Ultracold collisions involving heteronuclear alkali metal dimers

We have carried out the first quantum dynamics calculations on ultracold atom-diatom collisions in isotopic mixtures. The systems studied are spin-polarized 7Li + 6Li7Li, 7Li + 6Li2, 6Li + 6Li7Li and 6Li + 7Li2. Reactive scattering can occur for the first two systems even when the molecules are in their ground rovibrational states, but is slower than vibrational relaxation in homonuclear systems. Implications for sympathetic cooling of heteronuclear molecules are discussed.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2004

Ultracold Li + Li_2 collisions: bosonic and fermionic cases

We have carried out quantum dynamical calculations of vibrational quenching in Li + Li_2 collisions for both bosonic 7Li and fermionic 6Li. These are the first ever such calculations involving fermionic atoms. We find that for the low initial vibrational states considered here (v less than or equal to 3), the quenching rates are not suppressed for fermionic atoms. This contrasts with the situation found experimentally for molecules formed via Feshbach resonances in very high vibrational states.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2003

On the interaction of NH($X^{3}Σ^{-}$) molecules with rubidium atoms: implications for sympathetic cooling and the formation of extremely polar molecules

The Rb-NH interaction is investigated as a prototype for interactions between alkali metal atoms and stable molecules. For spin-aligned Rb and NH that interact on a quartet surface ($^4A''$), the interaction is relatively weak, with a well depth of 0.078 eV. However, there are also doublet surfaces of ion-pair character that are very much deeper (well depth 1.372 eV) and may be important for atom - molecule collision rates. Similar deeply bound ion-pair states are likely to exist for other alkali atom -- molecule pairs. It is shown that a transition to a dipolar superfluid phase will be easier to achieve for low-mass than for high-mass species.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2002

Three-body non-additive forces between spin-polarized alkali atoms

Three-body non-additive forces in systems of three spin-polarized alkali atoms (Li, Na, K, Rb and Cs) are investigated using high-level ab initio calculations. The non-additive forces are found to be large, especially near the equilateral equilibrium geometries. For Li, they increase the three-atom potential well depth by a factor of 4 and reduce the equilibrium interatomic distance by 0.9 A. The non-additive forces originate principally from chemical bonding arising from sp mixing effects.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2002

Quantum Dynamics of Ultracold Na + Na_2 collisions

Ultracold collisions between spin-polarized Na atoms and vibrationally excited Na_2 molecules are investigated theoretically, using both an inelastic formalism (neglecting atom exchange channels) and a reactive formalism (including atom exchange). Calculations are carried out on both pairwise additive and non-additive potential energy surfaces for the quartet electronic state. In both inelastic and reactive calculations, the Wigner threshold laws are followed for energies below 10^{-6} K. It is found that vibrational relaxation processes dominate elastic processes for temperatures below 10^{-3} - 10^{-4} K. For temperatures below 10^{-5} K, the rate coefficients for vibrational relaxation (v = 1 -> 0) from the full calculation are 4.8 x 10^{-11} and 5.2 x 10^{-10} cm^3 s^-1 for the additive and non-additive potentials respectively.

cond-mat.soft↗