Résumé :

We present a time-independent quantum formalism to describe the dynamics of molecules with permanent electric dipole moments in a two-dimensional confined geometry such as a one-dimensional optical lattice, in the presence of an electric field [1].

Bose/Fermi statistics and selection rules play a crucial role in the dynamics. As examples, we compare the dynamics of confined fermionic and bosonic polar KRb molecules under different confinements and electric fields.

We show how chemical reactions can be suppressed, either by a « statistical suppression » which applies for fermions at small electric fields and confinements, or by a « potential energy suppression », which applies for both fermions and bosons at high electric fields and confinements. Good agreement is found between our theoretical predictions and recent experimental results [2] of KRb molecules. The work is extended to other chemically reactive collisions involving the molecules LiNa, LiK, LiRb, LiCs.

[1] G. Quéméner and John L. Bohn, Phys. Rev. A 83, 012705 (2011).
[2] M. H. G. de Miranda, A. Chotia, B. Neyenhuis, D. Wang, G. Quéméner, S. Ospelkaus, J. L. Bohn, J. Ye, D. S. Jin, Nature Physics 7, 502 (2011)
[3] G. Quéméner, J. L. Bohn, A. Petrov, S. Kotochigova, accepted to Phys. Rev. A, arXiv:1108.3866.