Reaction kinetics of SiO⁺ and H₂in an ion trap at low rotational states and at super-rotor energies

One among many long-standing goals in chemical physics has been to control chemical reactions and understand reaction pathways. To get to this goal, the strategy in the scientific community has been multi-pronged. Ion traps are a great place to study chemical reactions due to the long storage times. Furthermore, recent work in our group has enabled preparing SiO⁺ molecules in a target rotational state from the ground state all the way to “super-rotor” energies. Taking advantage of this technique, I will present our latest results on the reaction kinetics of SiO⁺ + H₂ ---> SiOH⁺ + H in an ion trap and discuss the striking difference between reaction rates at low rotational energies and at “super-rotor” energies (molecules with energy that greatly exceed kT or exceed the bond energy). I will also briefly discuss the results of our collaborators that explain our observations.