Work

Two-photon-assisted collisions in ultracold gases of polar molecules II: Two-photon optical shielding

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: We theoretically investigate the collisions between ultracold polar molecules in the presence of two lasers ensuring a Raman resonant transition on individual molecules to suppress photon scattering, taking the example of bosonic Na 23 K 39 molecules. By varying laser detunings and intensities, we enable a repulsive long-range interaction potential between molecules. After solving a set of coupled Schrödinger equations with the Hamiltonian written in the basis of laser-dressed states of the molecule pair at infinite distance, we identify quasiresonant conditions under which elastic collisions are favored over inelastic and reactive ones, by a factor of about 2, thus demonstrating a promising pathway for efficient two-photon optical shielding of ultracold molecular collisions. The results are analyzed in terms of scattering length of the colliding laser-dressed molecules, which exhibit prominent resonances assigned to the interaction of the entrance channel with other specific channels, consistent with the existence of a quasibound level of the long-range molecular pair induced by the lasers.

Source: Physical Review Research

DOI: 10.1103/1gx3-4ql5