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Journal of Physics Conference Series

Charge transfer in cold collisions of rubidium atoms with calcium and ytterbium ions

Svetlana A. Yakovleva, Andrey K. Belyaev, Alexei A. Buchachenko

Published Dec 10, 2014• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Low-energy collisions of the Ca and Yb cations with Rb atoms are investigated theoretically using accurate ab initio potential energy curves and coupling matrix elements to elucidate the dominant charge transfer mechanisms. The cross sections calculated at collision energies above 10 −5 cm −1 exhibit the features typical to Langevin ion-atom collision regime, including a rich structure associated with the centrifugal barrier tunnelling (orbiting) resonances. It is shown that the dominant process in Yb + + Rb collisions is the radiative charge transfer, while in the case of Ca + + Rb collisions nonadiabatic transitions due to spin-orbit coupling dominate. Theoretical results are in a good agreement with available experimental data.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/572/1/012009

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Low-energy collisions of the Ca and Yb cations with Rb atoms are investigated theoretically using accurate ab initio potential energy curves and coupling matrix elements to elucidate the dominant charge transfer mechanisms. The cross sections calculated at collision energies above 10 −5 cm −1 exhibit the features typical to Langevin ion-atom collision regime, including a rich structure associated with the centrifugal barrier tunnelling (orbiting) resonances. It is shown that the dominant process in Yb + + Rb collisions is the radiative charge transfer, while in the case of Ca + + Rb collisions nonadiabatic transitions due to spin-orbit coupling dominate. Theoretical results are in a good agreement with available experimental data.
Charge-transfer cold Yb+{}^{+}++++ Rb collision dynamics is investigated theoretically using high-level ab initio potential energy curves, dipole moment functions, and nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements. Within the scalar-relativistic approximation, the radiative transitions from the entrance $A{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{1}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{+}$ to the ground $X{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{1}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}^{+}$ state are found to be the only efficient charge-transfer pathway. The spin-orbit coupling does not open other efficient pathways, but alters the potential energy curves and the transition dipole moment for the $A\ensuremath{-}X$ pair of states. The radiative, as well as the nonradiative, charge-transfer cross sections calculated within the ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}--10$ cm${}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ collision energy range exhibit all features of the Langevin ion-atom collision regime, including a rich structure associated with centrifugal barrier tunneling (orbiting) resonances. Theoretical rate coefficients for two Yb isotopes agree well with those measured by immersing Yb+{}^{+}+ ions in an ultracold Rb ensemble in a hybrid trap. Possible origins of discrepancy in the product distributions and relations to previously studied similar processes are discussed.
Collisions between Ca cations and Rb atoms are computed within a quantum approach that generates the most relevant potential energy curves from accurate ab initio methods and carries out the low-energy scattering calculations by including nonadiabatic and spin-orbit coupling terms. The cross sections are obtained at relative energies typical for the likely arrangements of Rb atoms in a Magneto-Optical Trap overlapped with a Coulomb Crystal of Ca cations. The dominant nonadiabatic process is clearly identified and the efficiency of the nonadiabatic coupling terms which lead to the charge-exchange process is discussed.
Ultracold hybrid ion–atom traps offer the possibility of microscopic manipulation of quantum coherences in the gas using the ion as a probe. However, inelastic processes, particularly charge transfer can be a significant process of ion loss and has been measured experimentally for the ion immersed in a Rb vapour. We use first-principles quantum chemistry codes to obtain the potential energy curves and dipole moments for the lowest-lying energy states of this complex. Calculations for the radiative decay processes cross sections and rate coefficients are presented for the total decay processes; and . Comparing the semi-classical Langevin approximation with the quantum approach, we find it provides a very good estimate of the background at higher energies. The results demonstrate that radiative decay mechanisms are important over the energy and temperature region considered. In fact, the Langevin process of ion–atom collisions dominates cold ion–atom collisions. For spin-dependent processes [ 1 ] the anisotropic magnetic dipole–dipole interaction and the second-order spin–orbit coupling can play important roles, inducing coupling between the spin and the orbital motion. They measured the spin-relaxing collision rate to be approximately five orders of magnitude higher than the charge-exchange collision rate [ 1 ]. Regarding the measured radiative charge transfer collision rate, we find that our calculation is in very good agreement with experiment and with previous calculations. Nonetheless, we find no broad resonances features that might underly a strong isotope effect. In conclusion, we find, in agreement with previous theory that the isotope anomaly observed in experiment remains an open question.
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Radiative emission during cold collisions between trapped laser-cooled Rb atoms and alkaline-earth ions (Ca+^++, Sr+^++, Ba+^++) and Yb+^++, and between Li and Yb+^++, are studied theoretically, using accurate effective-core-potential based quantum chemistry calculations of potential energy curves and transition dipole moments of the related molecular ions. Radiative association of molecular ions is predicted to occur for all systems with a cross section two to ten times larger than the radiative charge transfer one. Partial and total rate constants are also calculated and compared to available experiments. Narrow shape resonances are expected, which could be detectable at low temperature with an experimental resolution at the limit of the present standards. Vibrational distributions are also calculated, showing that the final molecular ions are not created in their ground state level.
In order to study ultracold charge-transfer processes in hybrid atom-ion traps, we have mapped out the potential-energy curves and molecular parameters for several low-lying states of the Rb, Yb+{}^{+}+ system. We employ both a multireference configuration interaction and a full configuration interaction (FCI) approach. Turning points, crossing points, potential minima, and spectroscopic molecular constants are obtained for the lowest five molecular states. Long-range parameters, including the dispersion coefficients, are estimated from our ab initio data. The separated-atom ionization potentials and atomic polarizability of the ytterbium atom (${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{d}=128.4$ atomic units) are in good agreement with experiment and previous calculations. We present some dynamical calculations for (adiabatic) scattering lengths for the two lowest (Yb, Rb+{}^{+}+) channels that were carried out in our work. However, we find that the pseudopotential approximation is rather limited in validity and only applies to nK temperatures. The adiabatic scattering lengths for both the triplet and singlet channels indicate that both are large and negative in the FCI approximation.