Reactive Collisions of Ultracold Molecules Confined in quasi-2D Geometry

TL;DR

This paper develops a formalism to calculate collision cross sections of ultracold molecules in quasi-2D confinement, showing how laser fields and magnetic tuning can enhance elastic collisions and control inelastic processes.

Contribution

It introduces a rigorous method for calculating collision cross sections in quasi-2D ultracold systems, highlighting the effects of laser confinement and magnetic fields on collision dynamics.

Findings

Elastic-to-inelastic collision ratios are increased by laser confinement.

Collision cross sections can be tuned via confinement strength and magnetic fields.

The elastic-to-inelastic ratio scales inversely with the square root of kinetic energy over confinement frequency.

Abstract

We present a formalism for rigorous calculations of cross sections for inelastic and reactive collisions of ultracold atoms and molecules confined by laser fields in quasi-2D geometry. Our results show that the elastic-to-inelastic ratios of collision cross sections are enhanced in the presence of a laser confinement and that the threshold energy dependence of the collision cross sections can be tuned by varying the confinement strength and external magnetic fields. The enhancement of the elastic-to-inelastic ratios is inversely proportional to $\sqrt{\epsilon/\hbar \omega_0}$, where $\epsilon$ is the kinetic energy and $\omega_0$ is the oscillation frequency of the trapped particles in the confinement potential.