Ultracold molecular collisions in combined electric and magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates how combined electric and magnetic fields influence ultracold molecular collisions, revealing that field orientation and strength significantly affect collision dynamics and molecular polarization.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of collision processes of polar molecules under combined electric and magnetic fields, highlighting the impact of field orientation on molecular interactions.

Findings

Collision processes depend on field orientation and magnitude.

Molecular polarization is affected by combined fields.

Collision dynamics vary with position and velocity in traps.

Abstract

We consider collisions of electric and magnetic polar molecules, taking the OH radical as an example, subject to combined electric and magnetic static fields. We show that the relative orientation of the fields has an important effect on the collision processes for different fields magnitude at different collision energies. This is due to the way the molecules polarize in the combined electric and magnetic fields and hence the way the electric dipole-dipole interaction rises. If OH molecules are confined in magnetic quadrupole traps and if an electric field is applied, molecular collisions will strongly depend on the position as well as the velocity of the molecules, and consequences on the molecular dynamics are discussed.