2019/01/08 by Michael Mills, Prateek Puri, Ming Li +6
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Atom (system on chip) #Atomic physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Collision #Electron #Energy (signal processing) #Excited state #Inelastic collision #Ion #Physics #Quantum #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #Ultracold atom #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.122.233401
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 233401 (2019) · 6 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2019/01/08 · openalex publication_date 2019/06/14 · arxiv updated 2019/06/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Using a recently developed method for precisely controlling collision energy, we observe a dramatic suppression of inelastic collisions between an atom and ion (Ca+Yb+) at low collision energy. This suppression, which is expected to be a universal phenomenon, arises when the spontaneous emission lifetime of the excited state is comparable to or shorter than the collision complex lifetime. We develop a technique to remove this suppression and engineer excited-state interactions. By dressing the system with a strong catalyst laser, a significant fraction of the collision complexes can be excited at a specified atom-ion separation. This technique allows excited-state collisions to be studied, even at ultracold temperature, and provides a general method for engineering ultracold excited-state interactions.