Quantum state-resolved molecular dipolar collisions over four decades of energy.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 36893253.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.adf9836.
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Abstract
Collisions between cold polar molecules represent a fascinating research frontier but have proven hard to probe experimentally. We report measurements of inelastic cross sections for collisions between nitric oxide (NO) and deuterated ammonia (ND<sub>3</sub>) molecules at energies between 0.1 and 580 centimeter<sup>-1</sup>, with full quantum state resolution. At energies below the ~100-centimeter<sup>-1</sup> well depth of the interaction potential, we observed backward glories originating from peculiar U-turn trajectories. At energies below 0.2 centimeter<sup>-1</sup>, we observed a breakdown of the Langevin capture model, which we interpreted in terms of a suppressed mutual polarization during the collision, effectively switching off the molecular dipole moments. Scattering calculations based on an ab initio NO-ND<sub>3</sub> potential energy surface revealed the crucial role of near-degenerate rotational levels with opposite parity in low-energy dipolar collisions.