Inelastic Collisions in an Ultracold quasi-2D Gas

TL;DR

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

Contribution

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

Findings

Elastic-to-inelastic ratios are enhanced by laser confinement.

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

The ratio enhancement is inversely proportional to 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.