Related papers: Molecule-molecule and atom-molecule collisions wit…
Recent experiments have demonstrated direct cooling and trapping of diatomic and triatomic molecules in magneto-optical traps (MOTs). However, even the best molecular MOTs to date still have density $10^{-5}$ times smaller than in typical…
We present measurements and calculations of the trap loss rate for laser cooled Rb atoms confined in either a magneto-optic or a magnetic quadrupole trap when exposed to a room temperature background gas of Ar. We study the loss rate as a…
Collisions between ultracold calcium monohydroxide (CaOH) molecules are realized and studied. Inelastic collision rate constants are measured for CaOH prepared in ground and excited vibrational states, and the electric field dependence of…
We have experimentally explored a novel possibility to study exoergic cold atomic collisions. Trapping of small countable atom numbers in a shallow magneto-optical trap and monitoring of their temporal dynamics allows us to directly observe…
We present a study of vibrational quenching and chemical processes of molecular ions immersed in an ultracold atomic gas by means of the quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) method. In particular, BaRb$^+(v)$ + Rb collisions are studied at cold…
This paper summarizes the recent theoretical works on inelastic collisions and chemical reactions at cold and ultracold temperatures involving neutral or ionic systems of atoms and molecules. Tables of zero-temperature rate constants of…
Trapping ultracold molecules in conservative traps is essential for applications -- such as quantum state-controlled chemistry, quantum simulations, and quantum information processing. These applications require high densities or…
We investigate the role of hyperfine structure in resonant-dipole interactions between two atoms cotrapped in an optical tweezer. Two-body loss rates from light-assisted collisions (LACs) are measured across the $^{87}$Rb hyperfine spectrum…
We have created a dark quantum superposition state of a Rb Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) and a degenerate gas of Rb$_2$ ground state molecules in a specific ro-vibrational state using two-color photoassociation. As a signature for the…
We report the production of ultracold heteronuclear Cs$^*$Yb molecules through one-photon photoassociation applied to an ultracold atomic mixture of Cs and Yb confined in an optical dipole trap. We use trap-loss spectroscopy to detect…
We propose a novel method to measure the interaction between an ultracold gas of neutral atoms and a surface. This solution combines an optical dipole trap reflected by the surface, a magnetic trap formed by current carrying wires embedded…
The use of a dynamic "accordion" lattice with ultracold atoms is demonstrated. Ultracold atoms of $^{87}$Rb are trapped in a two-dimensional optical lattice, and the spacing of the lattice is then increased in both directions from 2.2 to…
We report the measurement of collision rate coefficient for collisions between ultracold Cs atoms and low energy Cs+ ions. The experiments are performed in a hybrid trap consisting of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for Cs atoms and a Paul…
The collisions between linear polar molecules, trapped in a microwave field with circular polarization, are theoretically analyzed. The microwave trap suggested by DeMille \cite{DeMille} seems to be rather advantageous in comparison with…
Controlling interactions between cold molecules using external fields can elucidate the role of quantum mechanics in molecular collisions. We create a new experimental platform in which ultracold rubidium atoms and cold ammonia molecules…
We report numerically exact quantum scattering calculations on magnetic Feshbach resonances in ultracold, strongly anisotropic atom-molecule [Rb($^2$S) + SrF($^2\Sigma^+$)] collisions based on state-of-the-art ab initio potential energy…
Ultracold ground state dipolar 40K-87Rb molecules have recently been produced in a loose harmonic trap by employing a magnetic field sweep across a Feshbach resonance followed by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage [K.-K. Ni et al., Science…
Energy transfer between different mechanical degrees of freedom in atom-molecule collisions has been widely studied and largely understood. However, systems involving spins remain less explored, especially with a state-to-state precision.…
We observe the dynamic formation of $Cs_2$ molecules near Feshbach resonances in a cold sample of atomic cesium using an external probe beam. This method is 300 times more sensitive than previous atomic collision rate methods, and allows us…
Microscopic control over polar molecules with tunable interactions would enable realization of novel quantum phenomena. Using an applied electric field gradient, we demonstrate layer-resolved state preparation and imaging of ultracold…