Translational cooling versus vibrational quenching in ultracoldOH--Rb collisions: A quantum assessment

摘要

A new three-dimensional potential energy surface (PES), which describes the interaction betweenthe OH-(X~1Σ~+) molecule and the Rb(~2S) atomic gas has been obtained by using a highlycorrelated ab initio model of the electronic structure and a large atomic basis set supplemented witha set of midbond Gaussian functions. This accurate PES is being employed to evaluate theOH~-(X ~1Σ~+)vibrational quenching efficiency induced by collisions with Rb(2S) at low and ultralowenergies. Calculations employ the coupled-channel ansatz to describe the nuclear quantum dynamicsand finally show a very marked dependence of the inelastic cross sections and rates, at vanishingcollision energies, on the initial vibrational energy content of the partner molecules. The presentfindings allow us to make specific suggestions on the likely outcomes from energy interplaybetween the title species within a mixed MOT/Paul Trap environment.