Wojciech Skomorowski

Interatomic potentials, electric properties and spectroscopy of the ground and excited states of the Rb2 molecule: ab initio calculations and effect of a non-resonant field*

We formulate the theory for a diatomic molecule in a spatially degenerate electronic state interacting with a non-resonant laser field and investigate its rovibrational structure in the presence of the field. We report on ab initio calculations employing the double electron attachment intermediate Hamiltonian Fock space coupled cluster method restricted to single and double excitations for all electronic states of the Rb2 molecule up to 5s+5d dissociation limit of about 26,000 cm−1. In order to correctly predict the spectroscopic behaviour of Rb2, we have also calculated the electric transition dipole moments, non-adiabatic coupling and spin-orbit coupling matrix elements, and static dipole polarisabilities, using the multireference configuration interaction method. When a molecule is exposed to strong non-resonant light, its rovibrational levels get hybridised. We study the spectroscopic signatures of this effect for transitions between the X1Σ+ g electronic ground state and the A1Σ+ u and b3Π u excited state manifold. The latter is characterised by strong perturbations due to the spin-orbit interaction. We find that for non-resonant field strengths of the order 109 W/cm2, the spin-orbit interaction and coupling to the non-resonant field become comparable. The non-resonant field can then be used to control the singlet-triplet character of a rovibrational level.

Interaction between LiH molecule and Li atom from state-of-the-art electronic structure calculations.

State-of-the-art ab initio techniques have been applied to compute the potential energy surface for the lithium atom interacting with the lithium hydride molecule in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The interaction potential was obtained using a combination of the explicitly correlated unrestricted coupled-cluster method with single, double, and noniterative triple excitations [UCCSD(T)-F12] for the core-core and core-valence correlation and full configuration interaction for the valence-valence correlation. The potential energy surface has a global minimum 8743 cm(-1) deep if the Li-H bond length is held fixed at the monomer equilibrium distance or 8825 cm(-1) deep if it is allowed to vary. In order to evaluate the performance of the conventional CCSD(T) approach, calculations were carried out using correlation-consistent polarized valence X-tuple-zeta basis sets, with X ranging from 2 to 5, and a very large set of bond functions. Using simple two-point extrapolations based on the single-power laws X(-2) and X(-3) for the orbital basis sets, we were able to reproduce the CCSD(T)-F12 results for the characteristic points of the potential with an error of 0.49% at worst. The contribution beyond the CCSD(T)-F12 model, obtained from full configuration interaction calculations for the valence-valence correlation, was shown to be very small, and the error bars on the potential were estimated. At linear LiH-Li geometries, the ground-state potential shows an avoided crossing with an ion-pair potential. The energy difference between the ground-state and excited-state potentials at the avoided crossing is only 94 cm(-1). Using both adiabatic and diabatic pictures, we analyze the interaction between the two potential energy surfaces and its possible impact on the collisional dynamics. When the Li-H bond is allowed to vary, a seam of conical intersections appears at C(2v) geometries. At the linear LiH-Li geometry, the conical intersection is at a Li-H distance which is only slightly larger than the monomer equilibrium distance, but for nonlinear geometries it quickly shifts to Li-H distances that are well outside the classical turning points of the ground-state potential of LiH. This suggests that the conical intersection will have little impact on the dynamics of Li-LiH collisions at ultralow temperatures. Finally, the reaction channels for the exchange and insertion reactions are also analyzed and found to be unimportant for the dynamics.

Molecular hydrogen interacts more strongly when rotationally excited at low temperatures leading to faster reactions

The role of internal molecular degrees of freedom, such as rotation, has scarcely been explored experimentally in low-energy collisions despite their significance to cold and ultracold chemistry. Particularly important to astrochemistry is the case of the most abundant molecule in interstellar space, hydrogen, for which two spin isomers have been detected, one of which exists in its rotational ground state whereas the other is rotationally excited. Here we demonstrate that quantization of molecular rotation plays a key role in cold reaction dynamics, where rotationally excited ortho-hydrogen reacts faster due to a stronger long-range attraction. We observe rotational state-dependent non-Arrhenius universal scaling laws in chemi-ionization reactions of para-H2 and ortho-H2 by He(2(3)P2), spanning three orders of magnitude in temperature. Different scaling laws serve as a sensitive gauge that enables us to directly determine the exact nature of the long-range intermolecular interactions. Our results show that the quantum state of the molecular rotor determines whether or not anisotropic long-range interactions dominate cold collisions.

Precise study of asymptotic physics with subradiant ultracold molecules

An experimental study characterizes subradiance—inhibited emission due to destructive interference—in ultracold molecules close to the dissociation limit and shows that it could be used for precision molecular spectroscopy. Weakly bound molecules have physical properties without atomic analogues, even as the bond length approaches dissociation. For instance, the internal symmetries of homonuclear diatomic molecules result in the formation of two-body superradiant and subradiant excited states. Whereas superradiance1,2,3 has been demonstrated in a variety of systems, subradiance4,5,6 is more elusive owing to the inherently weak interaction with the environment. Here we characterize the properties of deeply subradiant molecular states with intrinsic quality factors exceeding 1013 via precise optical spectroscopy with the longest molecule–light coherent interaction times to date. We find that two competing effects limit the lifetimes of the subradiant molecules, with different asymptotic behaviours. The first is radiative decay via weak magnetic-dipole and electric-quadrupole interactions. We prove that its rate increases quadratically with the bond length, confirming quantum mechanical predictions. The second is non-radiative decay through weak gyroscopic predissociation, with a rate proportional to the vibrational mode spacing and sensitive to short-range physics. This work bridges the gap between atomic and molecular metrology based on lattice-clock techniques7, enhancing our understanding of long-range interatomic interactions.

Rovibrational dynamics of the strontium molecule in the AΣu+1, c3Πu, and aΣu+3 manifold from state-of-the-art ab initio calculations

State-of-the-art ab initio techniques have been applied to compute the potential energy curves for the electronic states in the A(1)Σ(u)(+), c(3)Π(u), and a(3)Σ(u)(+) manifold of the strontium dimer, the spin-orbit and nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements between the states in the manifold, and the electric transition dipole moment from the ground X(1)Σ(g)(+) to the nonrelativistic and relativistic states in the A+c+a manifold. The potential energy curves and transition moments were obtained with the linear response (equation of motion) coupled cluster method limited to single, double, and linear triple excitations for the potentials and limited to single and double excitations for the transition moments. The spin-orbit and nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements were computed with the multireference configuration interaction method limited to single and double excitations. Our results for the nonrelativistic and relativistic (spin-orbit coupled) potentials deviate substantially from recent ab initio calculations. The potential energy curve for the spectroscopically active (1)0(u)(+) state is in quantitative agreement with the empirical potential fitted to high-resolution Fourier transform spectra [A. Stein, H. Knöckel, and E. Tiemann, Eur. Phys. J. D 64, 227 (2011)]. The computed ab initio points were fitted to physically sound analytical expressions, and used in converged coupled channel calculations of the rovibrational energy levels in the A+c+a manifold and line strengths for the A(1)Σ(u)(+)←X(1)Σ(g (+) transitions. Positions and lifetimes of quasi-bound Feshbach resonances lying above the (1)S(0) + (3)P(1) dissociation limit were also obtained. Our results reproduce (semi)quantitatively the experimental data observed thus far. Predictions for on-going and future experiments are also reported.

Nonadiabatic Effects in Ultracold Molecules via Anomalous Linear and Quadratic Zeeman Shifts

Anomalously large linear and quadratic Zeeman shifts are measured for weakly bound ultracold 88Sr2 molecules near the intercombination-line asymptote. Nonadiabatic Coriolis coupling and the nature of long-range molecular potentials explain how this effect arises and scales roughly cubically with the size of the molecule. The linear shifts yield nonadiabatic mixing angles of the molecular states. The quadratic shifts are sensitive to nearby opposite f-parity states and exhibit fourth-order corrections, providing a stringent test of a state-of-the-art ab initio model.

Prospects for sympathetic cooling of molecules in electrostatic, ac and microwave traps

Abstract We consider how trapped molecules can be sympathetically cooled by ultracold atoms. As a prototypical system, we study LiH molecules co-trapped with ultracold Li atoms. We calculate the elastic and inelastic collision cross sections of 7LiH + 7Li with the molecules initially in the ground state and in the first rotationally excited state. We then use these cross sections to simulate sympathetic cooling in a static electric trap, an ac electric trap, and a microwave trap. In the static trap we find that inelastic losses are too great for cooling to be feasible for this system. The ac and microwave traps confine ground-state molecules, and so inelastic losses are suppressed. However, collisions in the ac trap can take molecules from stable trajectories to unstable ones and so sympathetic cooling is accompanied by trap loss. In the microwave trap there are no such losses and sympathetic cooling should be possible.

Electronic circular dichroism of disulphide bridge: ab initio quantum-chemical calculations.

Electronic circular dichroism (ECD) parameters of the disulphide chromophore have been calculated for dihydrogen disulphide, dimethyl disulphide, and cystine using density-functional theory, coupled-cluster theory, and multiconfigurational self-consistent field theory. The objective is twofold: first, to examine the performance of the Coulomb-attenuated CAM-B3LYP functional for the calculation of ECD spectra; second, to investigate the dependence of the ECD parameters on the conformation around the disulphide bridge. The CAM-B3LYP functional improves considerably on the B3LYP functional, giving results comparable to CCSD theory and to MCSCF theory in an extended active space. The conformational dependence of the ECD parameters does not change much upon substitution, which is promising for the application of ECD in structural investigations of proteins containing disulphide bridges.

Femtosecond two-photon photoassociation of hot magnesium atoms: A quantum dynamical study using thermal random phase wavefunctions

Two-photon photoassociation of hot magnesium atoms by femtosecond laser pulses, creating electronically excited magnesium dimer molecules, is studied from first principles, combining ab initio quantum chemistry and molecular quantum dynamics. This theoretical framework allows for rationalizing the generation of molecular rovibrational coherence from thermally hot atoms [L. Rybak, S. Amaran, L. Levin, M. Tomza, R. Moszynski, R. Kosloff, C. P. Koch, and Z. Amitay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 273001 (2011)]. Random phase thermal wavefunctions are employed to model the thermal ensemble of hot colliding atoms. Comparing two different choices of basis functions, random phase wavefunctions built from eigenstates are found to have the fastest convergence for the photoassociation yield. The interaction of the colliding atoms with a femtosecond laser pulse is modeled non-perturbatively to account for strong-field effects.

Control of Optical Transitions with Magnetic Fields in Weakly Bound Molecules.

In weakly bound diatomic molecules, energy levels are closely spaced and thus more susceptible to mixing by magnetic fields than in the constituent atoms. We use this effect to control the strengths of forbidden optical transitions in (88)Sr2 over 5 orders of magnitude with modest fields by taking advantage of the intercombination-line threshold. The physics behind this remarkable tunability is accurately explained with both a simple model and quantum chemistry calculations, and suggests new possibilities for molecular clocks. We show how mixed quantization in an optical lattice can simplify molecular spectroscopy. Furthermore, our observation of formerly inaccessible f-parity excited states offers an avenue for improving theoretical models of divalent-atom dimers.