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arXiv:2606.10603

Quantum study of ultracold atom-ion excitation exchange

Tibor Jónás, Romain Véxiau, Nadia Bouloufa-Maafa, Eliane Luc-Koenig, Olivier Dulieu, Andrea Orbán

Published Jun 9, 2026• 0 citations
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Abstract

The quantum dynamics of ultracold collisions between rubidium atoms and excited metastable strontium ions is treated in the laboratory frame, enlightening the importance of the coupling between internal angular momenta of the particles and their mutual rotation. The study reveals a subtle competition between electronic excitation exchange and fine structure quenching, with no charge exchange, which is found to be very sensitive to the details of ion-atom interactions. The rate constant for electronic excitation exchange is found in agreement with the experimental results of Ben-Shlomi \textit{et al.} (Phys. Rev. A \textbf{102}, 031301(R) (2020)), while the rate for fine structure quenching is predicted to strongly depend on the initial polarization of the reactants.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2606.10603

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The quantum dynamics of ultracold collisions between rubidium atoms and excited metastable strontium ions is treated in the laboratory frame, enlightening the importance of the coupling between internal angular momenta of the particles and their mutual rotation. The study reveals a subtle competition between electronic excitation exchange and fine structure quenching, with no charge exchange, which is found to be very sensitive to the details of ion-atom interactions. The rate constant for electronic excitation exchange is found in agreement with the experimental results of Ben-Shlomi \textit{et al.} (Phys. Rev. A \textbf{102}, 031301(R) (2020)), while the rate for fine structure quenching is predicted to strongly depend on the initial polarization of the reactants.
Atom-ion interactions occur through the electric dipole which is induced by the ion on the neutral atom. In a Langevin collision, in which the atom and ion overcome the centrifugal barrier and reach a short internuclear distance, their internal electronic states deform due to their interaction and can eventually alter. Here we explore the outcome products and the energy released from a single Langevin collision between a single cold 88^{88}88Sr+^{+}+ ion initialized in the metastable 4d2D5/2,3/24d^2D_{5/2,3/2}4d2D5/2,3/2​ states, and a cold 87^{87}87Rb atom in the 5s2S1/25s^2S_{1/2}5s2S1/2​ ground state. We found that the long-lived D5/2D_{5/2}D5/2​ and D3/2D_{3/2}D3/2​ states quench after roughly three Langevin collisions, transforming the excitation energy into kinetic energy. We identify two types of collisional quenching. One is an Electronic Excitation-Exchange process, during which the ion relaxes to the SSS state and the atom is excited to the PPP state, followed by energy release of ∼\sim∼ 3000 K⋅\cdot⋅kB_BB​. The second is Spin-Orbit Change where the ion relaxes from the higher fine-structure D5/2D_{5/2}D5/2​ level to the lower D3/2D_{3/2}D3/2​ level releasing ∼\sim∼ 400 K⋅\cdot⋅kB_BB​ into kinetic motion. These processes are theoretically understood to occur through Landau-Zener avoided crossings between the different molecular potential curves. We also found that these relaxation rates are insensitive to the mutual spin orientation of the ion and atoms. This is explained by the strong inertial Coriolis coupling present in ultracold atom-ion collisions due to the high partial wave involved, which strongly mixes different angular momentum states. This inertial coupling explains the loss of the total electronic angular-momentum which is transferred to the external rotation of nuclei. Our results provide deeper understanding of ultracold atom-ion inelastic collisions and offer additional quantum control tools for the cold chemistry field.
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The control of the ultracold collisions between neutral atoms is an extensive and successful field of study. The tools developed allow for ultracold chemical reactions to be managed using magnetic fields, light fields and spin-state manipulation of the colliding particles among other methods. The control of chemical reactions in ultracold atom-ion collisions is a young and growing field of research. Recently, the collision energy and the ion electronic state were used to control atom-ion interactions. Here, we demonstrate spin-controlled atom-ion inelastic processes. In our experiment, both spin-exchange and charge-exchange reactions are controlled in an ultracold Rb-Sr+^++ mixture by the atomic spin state. We prepare a cloud of atoms in a single hyperfine spin-state. Spin-exchange collisions between atoms and ion subsequently polarize the ion spin. Electron transfer is only allowed for (RbSr)+^++ colliding in the singlet manifold. Initializing the atoms in various spin states affects the overlap of the collision wavefunction with the singlet molecular manifold and therefore also the reaction rate. We experimentally show that by preparing the atoms in different spin states one can vary the charge-exchange rate in agreement with theoretical predictions.
Abstract Quantum control of chemical reactions is an important goal in chemistry and physics. Ultracold chemical reactions are often controlled by preparing the reactants in specific quantum states. Here we demonstrate spin-controlled atom–ion inelastic (spin-exchange) processes and chemical (charge-exchange) reactions in an ultracold Rb-Sr+ mixture. The ion’s spin state is controlled by the atomic hyperfine spin state via spin-exchange collisions, which polarize the ion’s spin parallel to the atomic spin. We achieve ~ 90% spin polarization due to the absence of strong spin-relaxation channel. Charge-exchange collisions involving electron transfer are only allowed for (RbSr)+ colliding in the singlet manifold. Initializing the atoms in various spin states affects the overlap of the collision wave function with the singlet molecular manifold and therefore also the reaction rate. Our observations agree with theoretical predictions.
Charge-exchange collisions between ultracold fermionic 6Li^{6}\mathrm{Li}6Li atoms and 40Ca+^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^{+}40Ca+ ions are observed in the millikelvin temperature range. The reaction product of the charge-exchange collision is identified via mass spectrometry during which the motion of the ions is excited parametrically. The cross sections of the charge-exchange collisions between 6Li^{6}\mathrm{Li}6Li atoms in the ground state and 40Ca+^{40}\mathrm{Ca}^{+}40Ca+ ions in the ground and metastable excited states are determined. Investigation of the inelastic collision characteristics in the atom-ion mixture is an important step toward ultracold chemistry based on ultracold atoms and ions.