Magnetic Isotope Effect and Chemical Zeno Effect

摘要

The magnetic isotope effect—chemical separation of magnetic and nonmagnetic isotopes [1, 2]— depends on magnetic interactions in a radical pair (RP) and is determined by the difference in the singlet—triplet conversion rate between the radical pairs containing magnetic and nonmagnetic isotopes. It has been shown that spin-selective geminate recombination can decrease the singlet—triplet conversion rate and reduce the yield of recombination products [3—5]. This phenomenon is referred to as the chemical Zeno effect by analogy with the quantum Zeno effect predicted by Sudarshan and Misra [6]. Despite the long history of studying the quantum Zeno effect, very little work has focused on its possible experimental manifestations.