Collisions of Polar Molecules with Ultracold Alkali Metal Atoms (IP3 of EuroQUAM CoPoMol)
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
At very low temperatures, matter enters a new regime where its properties are fully quantum-mechanical. Such quantum matter is very precisely controllable and offers many new properties that are likely to form the basis of future technologies. The EuroQUAM Programme is a EUROCORES Programme coordinated by the European Science Foundation to develop European research in Cold Quantum Matter. A major objective of the EuroQUAM programme is to achieve quantum degeneracy for polar molecules. It is already possible to slow polar molecules almost to rest using inhomogeneous electric fields and trap them at temperatures around 1 milliKelvin. However, quantum degeneracy requires considerably lower temperatures, and to achieve it for decelerated molecules it will be necessary to develop a second-stage cooling mechanism that can reach the sub-microKelvin regime. A very promising approach to this is sympathetic cooling, in which the molecules are cooled by contact with ultracold atoms. The CoPoMol proposal brings together two leading experimental groups (Berlin, London) and three theoretical groups (Durham, Warsaw, Nijmegen) to explore sympathetic cooling and to develop our understanding of atom-molecule and molecule-molecule collisions. The interplay between theory and experiment was pivotal in the creation of atomic quantum gases and will be equally crucial for polar molecules. This proposal is for a closely integrated experimental and theoretical study. The Durham work will focus on theoretical aspects of the atom-molecule collisions that are crucial for sympathetic cooling. The proposal as a whole will provide the basis for achieving condensation to form a dipolar quantum gas and pave the the way to the development of controlled ultracold chemistry.
People |
ORCID iD |
Jeremy Hutson (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Hutson
(2009)
Theory of cold atomic and molecular collisions
Hutson JM
(2009)
Dramatic reductions in inelastic cross sections for ultracold collisions near Feshbach resonances.
in Physical review letters
Janssen L
(2011)
Cold and ultracold NH-NH collisions in magnetic fields
in Physical Review A
Janssen LM
(2011)
Cold and ultracold NH-NH collisions: the field-free case.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Parazzoli LP
(2011)
Large effects of electric fields on atom-molecule collisions at millikelvin temperatures.
in Physical review letters
Ran H
(2010)
Hyperfine structure in the microwave spectra of ultracold polar molecules
in New Journal of Physics
Skomorowski W
(2011)
Interaction between LiH molecule and Li atom from state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Skomorowski W
(2011)
Cold collisions of an open-shell S-state atom with a 2? molecule: N(4S) colliding with OH in a magnetic field.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Soldán P
(2009)
Prospects for sympathetic cooling of polar molecules: NH with alkali-metal and alkaline-earth atoms--a new hope.
in Faraday discussions
Wallis A
(2011)
The prospects of sympathetic cooling of NH molecules with Li atoms
in The European Physical Journal D
Wallis AO
(2009)
Production of ultracold NH molecules by sympathetic cooling with Mg.
in Physical review letters
Zuchowski P
(2008)
Prospects for producing ultracold N H 3 molecules by sympathetic cooling: A survey of interaction potentials
in Physical Review A
Zuchowski P
(2010)
Reactions of ultracold alkali-metal dimers
in Physical Review A
Zuchowski P
(2009)
Low-energy collisions of NH 3 and ND 3 with ultracold Rb atoms
in Physical Review A
Zuchowski PS
(2011)
Cold collisions of N (4S) atoms and NH (3S) molecules in magnetic fields.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Zuchowski PS
(2010)
Ultracold RbSr molecules can be formed by magnetoassociation.
in Physical review letters
Description | This grant developed theory to underpin experiments aimed at cooling polar molecules by immersing them in a bath of ultracold atoms. We developed theoretical methods to handle collisions between open-shell molecules and alkali-metal atoms in magnetic fields. We developed potential energy surfaces for key systems and carried out quantum collision calculations as a function of energy and field to work out which systems were most promising for sympathetic cooling. We identified the first system (Mg-NH) for which inelastic collisions were predicted to be slow enough for sympathetic cooling to succeed. |
Exploitation Route | Experimental groups are currently developing experiments to achieve sympathetic cooling, using the theoretical framework and understanding that we have developed. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) |
Description | Our findings are being used in many laboratories around the world to develop experiments to cool molecules to the ultracold regime. The work done under this proposal underpinned the Programme Grant MMQA: Microkelvin Molecules in a Quantum Array (2010-16) and our follow-on Programme Grant application QSUM: Quantum Science with Ultracold Molecules. |
First Year Of Impact | 2010 |
Sector | Other |
Description | EPSRC Programme Grant 2010 |
Amount | £6,380,561 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/I012044/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 12/2010 |
End | 11/2016 |
Description | CoPoMol |
Organisation | Max Planck Society |
Department | Fritz Haber Institute |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We worked together to understand collisions of cold polar molecules. The role of the Durham team was to develop theoretical methods for quantum-mechanical calculations of ultracold collisions in magnetic fields, to calculate potential energy surfaces, and to carry out collision calculations on prototype systems. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Warsaw team developed new theoretical methods for calculating potential energy surfaces and collaborated with us to apply them to systems of interest. The Nijmegen team collaborated with us to carry out calculations on molecule-molecule collisions in magnetic fields. The Fritz Haber team developed experimental methods to cool and trap cold molecules and worked towards experiments in sympathetic cooling. |
Impact | All publications were associated with this collaboration, but in many cases the results were sufficiently important for the different partners to publish separately. There were nevertheless 2 joint publications on Nh-NH collisions with the Nijmegen team (Janssen, Groenenboom, van der Avoird) and several publications with the Warsaw team (Skomoriwski, Moszynski). In addition, the PDRA employed for most of the project was Piotr Zuchownski, who had completed his Ph D with the Warsaw team shortly before the project started. |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | CoPoMol |
Organisation | Radboud University Nijmegen |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We worked together to understand collisions of cold polar molecules. The role of the Durham team was to develop theoretical methods for quantum-mechanical calculations of ultracold collisions in magnetic fields, to calculate potential energy surfaces, and to carry out collision calculations on prototype systems. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Warsaw team developed new theoretical methods for calculating potential energy surfaces and collaborated with us to apply them to systems of interest. The Nijmegen team collaborated with us to carry out calculations on molecule-molecule collisions in magnetic fields. The Fritz Haber team developed experimental methods to cool and trap cold molecules and worked towards experiments in sympathetic cooling. |
Impact | All publications were associated with this collaboration, but in many cases the results were sufficiently important for the different partners to publish separately. There were nevertheless 2 joint publications on Nh-NH collisions with the Nijmegen team (Janssen, Groenenboom, van der Avoird) and several publications with the Warsaw team (Skomoriwski, Moszynski). In addition, the PDRA employed for most of the project was Piotr Zuchownski, who had completed his Ph D with the Warsaw team shortly before the project started. |
Start Year | 2007 |
Description | CoPoMol |
Organisation | University of Warsaw |
Country | Poland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We worked together to understand collisions of cold polar molecules. The role of the Durham team was to develop theoretical methods for quantum-mechanical calculations of ultracold collisions in magnetic fields, to calculate potential energy surfaces, and to carry out collision calculations on prototype systems. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Warsaw team developed new theoretical methods for calculating potential energy surfaces and collaborated with us to apply them to systems of interest. The Nijmegen team collaborated with us to carry out calculations on molecule-molecule collisions in magnetic fields. The Fritz Haber team developed experimental methods to cool and trap cold molecules and worked towards experiments in sympathetic cooling. |
Impact | All publications were associated with this collaboration, but in many cases the results were sufficiently important for the different partners to publish separately. There were nevertheless 2 joint publications on Nh-NH collisions with the Nijmegen team (Janssen, Groenenboom, van der Avoird) and several publications with the Warsaw team (Skomoriwski, Moszynski). In addition, the PDRA employed for most of the project was Piotr Zuchownski, who had completed his Ph D with the Warsaw team shortly before the project started. |
Start Year | 2007 |