Ultracold coherent control of molecular collisions at a Förster resonance

We show that the precise preparation of a quantum superposition between three rotational states of an ultracold dipolar molecule generates controllable interferences in their two-body scattering dynamics and collisional rate coefficients, at an electric field that produces a Förster resonance [1]. This proposal represents a feasible protocol to achieve coherent control on ultracold molecular collisions in current experiments [2, 3, 4]. It sets the basis for future studies in which one can think to control the amount of each produced pairs, including trapped entangled pairs of reactants, individual pairs of products in a chemical reaction, and measuring each of their scattering phase-shifts that could envision “complete chemical experiments” at ultracold temperatures [5].

[1] T. Delarue, G. Quéméner, "Ultracold coherent control of molecular collisions at a Förster resonance", arXiv:2312.13726 (2023)

[2] K. Matsuda, L. De Marco, J.-R. Li, W. G. Tobias, G. Valtolina, G. Quéméner, J. Ye, Science 370, 1324 (2020)

[3] J.-R. Li, W. G. Tobias, K. Matsuda, C. Miller, G. Valtolina, L. D. Marco, R. R. W. Wang, L. Lassablière, G. Quéméner, J. L. Bohn, J. Ye, Nat. Phys. 17, 1144 (2021)

[4] Y. Liu, M.-G. Hu, M. A. Nichols, D. Yang, D. Xie, H. Guo, K.-K. Ni, Nature 593, 379 (2021)

[5] J. L. Bohn, A. M. Rey, J. Ye, Science 357, 1002 (2017)