Robust Coherent Control of Bimolecular Collisions beyond the Ultracold Regime

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the Partial Wave Phase Locking effect allows for coherent control of bimolecular collisions at higher energies beyond ultracold conditions, despite many partial wave contributions.

Contribution

The study introduces and applies the PWPL effect to achieve coherent control in ion-atom collisions with up to 5000 partial waves, extending control beyond ultracold regimes.

Findings

PWPL synchronizes partial wave oscillations

Coherent control demonstrated with up to 5000 partial waves

Control is measurable in cold atom-ion experiments

Abstract

Quantum coherent control of bimolecular collisions beyond the ultracold regime can face a major challenge due to the incoherent addition of different partial wave contributions to the total scattering cross section. These contributions become increasingly numerous as the collision energy increases, leading to a loss of overall control. Here, we overcome this limitation by leveraging the recently discovered Partial Wave Phase Locking (PWPL) effect, which synchronizes the oscillations of all partial wave contributions. By using rigorous quantum scattering calculations, we demonstrate that PWPL enables coherent control of spin exchange in ion-atom collisions, far outside the ultracold regime, even with as many as 5000 partial wave contributions. The predicted extent of control is sufficient to be measurable in cold atom-ion hybrid experiments.