Landau quantization effects in ultracold atom-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how external magnetic fields influence ultracold atom-ion collisions, revealing quantum effects like Landau quantization and providing a theoretical framework for controlling collision dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a rigorous theoretical method to calculate quantum scattering amplitudes considering magnetic field effects in ultracold atom-ion collisions.

Findings

Magnetic fields can significantly alter collision dynamics at ultracold temperatures.

Different magnetic regimes affect the collision process based on cyclotron radius.

Theoretical results aid in designing magnetic control of atom-ion interactions.

Abstract

We study ultracold atom-ion collisions in the presence of an external magnetic field. At low collision energy the field can drastically modify the translational motion of the ion, which follows quantized cyclotron orbits. We present a rigorous theoretical approach for the calculation of quantum scattering amplitudes in these conditions. Collisions in different magnetic field regimes, identified by the size of the cyclotron radius with respect to the range of the interaction potential, are investigated. Our results are important in cases where use of a magnetic field to control the atom-ion collision dynamics is envisioned.