Observation of Quantum Interference and Coherent Control in a Photochemical Reaction

David B. Blasing, Jesús Pérez-Ríos, Yangqian Yan, Sourav Dutta, Chuan-Hsun Li, Qi Zhou, and Yong P. Chen
Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 073202 – Published 16 August 2018
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Abstract

Coherent control of reactants remains a long-standing challenge in quantum chemistry. In particular, we have studied laser-induced molecular formation (photoassociation) in a Raman-dressed spin-orbit-coupled Rb87 Bose-Einstein condensate, whose spin quantum state is a superposition of multiple bare spin components. In contrast to the notably different photoassociation-induced fractional atom losses observed for the bare spin components of a statistical mixture, a superposition state with a comparable spin composition displays the same fractional loss on every spin component. We interpret this as the superposition state itself undergoing photoassociation. For superposition states induced by a large Raman coupling and zero Raman detuning, we observe a nearly complete suppression of the photoassociation rate. This suppression is consistent with a model based upon quantum destructive interference between two photoassociation pathways for colliding atoms with different spin combinations. This model also explains the measured dependence of the photoassociation rate on the Raman detuning at a moderate Raman coupling. Our work thus suggests that preparing atoms in quantum superpositions may represent a powerful new technique to coherently control photochemical reactions.

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  • Received 27 April 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.073202

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

David B. Blasing1, Jesús Pérez-Ríos2, Yangqian Yan1, Sourav Dutta1,3,†, Chuan-Hsun Li4, Qi Zhou1,5, and Yong P. Chen1,4,5,*

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
  • 2School of Materials Sciences and Technology, Universidad del Turabo, Gurabo, Puerto Rico 00778, USA
  • 3Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal 462066, India
  • 4School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
  • 5Purdue Quantum Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA

  • *yongchen@purdue.edu
  • Present address: Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400005, India.

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Issue

Vol. 121, Iss. 7 — 17 August 2018

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