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Ultracold chemistry as a testbed for few-body physics

Nature Physics volume 20, pages 722–729 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ultracold atoms, molecules and ions provide a unique playground to explore chemistry at ultracold temperatures. In this Review, we discuss what makes these systems particularly appealing as controlled quantum systems and the theoretical challenges that their study poses. We discuss recent progress in the field, focusing on chemical processes such as bimolecular chemical reactions, three-body recombination, charge transfer reactions and photochemistry. We emphasize the synergy between theory and experiment, highlighting the predictive power of theory and future directions in ultracold chemistry research.

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Fig. 1: Length and energy scales in ultracold molecular systems.
Fig. 2: Trap photochemistry of ultracold molecules.
Fig. 3: Shielding.
Fig. 4: Ultralong-range Rydberg molecules.
Fig. 5: Ion–atom complex formation in a Paul trap.
Fig. 6: Ion–atom–atom three-body recombination.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge discussions at the workshop ‘New directions in cold and ultracold chemistry’ at the Lorentz Center Leiden.

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  1. Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands

    Tijs Karman

  2. Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Michał Tomza

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA

    Jesús Pérez-Ríos

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Karman, T., Tomza, M. & Pérez-Ríos, J. Ultracold chemistry as a testbed for few-body physics. Nat. Phys. 20, 722–729 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-024-02467-3

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