Volume 251, 2024

Determination of collision mechanisms at low energies using four-vector correlations

Abstract

In molecular dynamics, a fundamental question is how the outcome of a collision depends on the relative orientation of the collision partners before their interaction begins (the stereodynamics of the process). The preference for a particular orientation of the reactant complex is intimately related to the idea of a collision mechanism and the possibility of control, as revealed in recent experiments. Indeed, this preference holds not only for chemical reactions involving complex polyatomic molecules, but also for the simplest inelastic atom–diatom collisions at cold collision energies. In this work, we report how the outcome of rotationally inelastic collisions between two D2 molecules can be controlled by changing the alignment of their internuclear axes under the same or different polarization vectors. Our results demonstrate that a higher degree of control can be achieved when two internuclear axes are aligned, especially when both molecules are relaxed in the collision. The possibility of control extends to very low energies, even to the ultracold regime, when no control could be achieved just by the alignment of the internuclear axis of one of the colliding partners.

Graphical abstract: Determination of collision mechanisms at low energies using four-vector correlations

Associated articles

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 12 2023
Accepted
19 2 2024
First published
20 2 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Faraday Discuss., 2024,251, 104-124

Determination of collision mechanisms at low energies using four-vector correlations

P. G. Jambrina, J. F. E. Croft, N. Balakrishnan, H. Guo and F. J. Aoiz, Faraday Discuss., 2024, 251, 104 DOI: 10.1039/D3FD00173C

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