Physical Review A
Atomic-matter-wave diffraction evidenced in low-energy Na + +Rb charge-exchange collisions
A. Leredde, A. Cassimi, X. Fléchard, D. Hennecart, H. Jouin, Bernard Pons
Abstract
Single charge transfer in low-energy ${\mathrm{Na}}^{+}+{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}(5s,5p)$ collisions is investigated using magneto-optically trapped Rb atoms and high-resolution recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy. The three-dimensional reconstruction of the recoil-ion momentum provides accurate relative cross sections for the active channels along with their associated distributions in projectile scattering angle. The measurements are accompanied by molecular close-coupling calculations. The predicted diffractionlike oscillations in angular distributions are clearly resolved by the experiment. An excellent agreement is found between the present molecular calculations and the experimental data.