Publications

Mechanisms for violating ergodicity (the ability of a quantum system to thermalize) are of interest for probing nonequilibrium matter and protecting quantum coherence in complex systems. We study rotational ergodicity breaking in an unprecedentedly large fullerene molecule, C60, determined from its icosahedral rovibrational fine structure.

L. R. Liu, D. Rosenberg, P. B. Changala, P. J. D. Crowley, D. J. Nesbitt, N. Y. Yao, T. V. Tscherbul, and J. Ye

Science 381, 778 (2023).

We report a very pronounced and narrow (25 mG) Feshbach resonance in collisions between two triplet ground-state NaLi molecules. Our observations provide strong evidence for the existence of long-lived coherent intermediate complexes even in systems without reaction barriers and open up the possibility of coherent control of chemical reactions.

Juliana J. Park, Yu-Kun Lu, Alan Jamison, Timur V. Tscherbul, and Wolfgang Ketterle

Nature 614, 54 (2023).

We show that it is possible to efficiently control ultracold chemical reactions of NaLi molecules in their metastable triplet states colliding with Na atoms by choosing the internal hyperfine and rovibrational states of the reactants and by inducing magnetic Feshbach resonances with an external magnetic field.

Rebekah Hermsmeier, Jacek Kłos, Svetlana Kotochigova, and Timur V. Tscherbul

Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 103402 (2021).

We use numerically exact quantum dynamics calculations to demonstrate universal stereoselectivity of cold atom-molecule collisions in an external electric field. We also show that it is possible to control quantum stereodynamics of cold Ne + OH collisions over the range of collision energies achievable in current merged beam scattering experiments.

Timur V. Tscherbul and Jacek Kłos

Phys. Rev. A 103, 062810 (2021).

We show that quantum interference-based coherent control is a highly efficient tool for tuning ultracold molecular collision dynamics. The basic idea of coherent control is to prepare tunable quantum superposition states (“Schrodinger cats”) and to let their deBroglie waves interfere in a collision, in direct analogy with Young’s double-slit experiment.

Adrien Devolder, Paul Brumer, and Timur V. Tscherbul

Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 153403 (2021).

By studying the emergence of steady-state Fano coherences in three-level quantum V-systems driven by incoherent light, we establish a direct connection between the seemingly unrelated phenomena of incoherent driving of multilevel quantum systems and nonequilibrium quantum transport in qubit networks.

Suyesh Koyu, Amro Dodin, Paul Brumer, and Timur V. Tscherbul

Phys. Rev. Research 3, 013295 (2021).

We perform the first numerically exact three-dimensional quantum scattering calculations on strongly anisotropic atom-molecule collisions in an external magnetic field, and study how vibrational degrees of freedom affect ultracold collision dynamics and magnetic Feshbach resonances.

Masato Morita, Jacek Klos, and Timur V. Tscherbul

Phys. Rev. Research 2, 043294 (2020).

We show that angle-dependent reactive scattering of cold molecules can be efficiently controlled by forming coherent superpositions of degenerate rotational states, an example of quantum interference-based coherent control in action.

Adrien Devolder, Timur V. Tscherbul, and Paul Brumer

Phys. Rev. A 102, 031303(R) (2020).

We developed an extended coupled-channel statistical theory of barrierless atom-diatom chemical reactions, and apply it to elucidate the effects of magnetic fields and hyperfine interactions on the ultracold chemical reaction of Li atoms with CaH molecules.

Jacek Klos and Timur V. Tscherbul

Phys. Rev. Research 2, 013117 (2020).

Our new theory of electron spin coherence lifetimes of alkali-metal atoms trapped in a solid para-hydrogen matrix agrees well with experimental observations. This is good news for using matrix-isolated atoms as a medium to store quantum information.

Sunil Upadhyay, Ugne Dargyte, Vsevolod D. Dergachev, Robert P. Prater, Sergey A. Varganov, Timur V. Tscherbul, David Patterson, and Jonathan D. Weinstein

Phys. Rev. A 100, 063419 (2019).

We propose a new statistical approach to cold molecular collisions based on cumulative probability distributions of scattering observables averaged over an ensemble of interaction potentials. The approach it applicable to a wide range of collision systems currently considered out of reach of quantum dynamics theory.

Masato Morita, Roman V. Krems, and Timur V. Tscherbul

Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 013401 (2019).

We discovered a new phase-locking effect in ion-atom collisions, which enables quantum interference to survive at much higher temperatures than previously believed possible.

Tomas Sikorsky, Masato Morita, Ziv Meir, Alexei A. Buchachenko, Ruti Ben-shlomi, Nitzan Akerman, Edvardas Narevicius, Timur V. Tscherbul, and Roee Ozeri

Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 173402 (2018).

We introduce a diagrammatic Monte Carlo approach to quantum impurity problems, and apply it to obtain the Green’s function of the angulon model describing a rotating molecule immersed in a superfluid.

Giacomo Bighin, Timur V. Tscherbul, and Mikhail Lemeshko

Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 165301 (2018).

Phys.org, Description of rotating molecules made easy

We propose an experimental test for the appearance of noise-induced Fano coherences using Ca atoms in magnetic fields excited with broadband incoherent radiation.

Amro Dodin, Timur V. Tscherbul, Robert Alicki, Amar Vutha, and Paul Brumer

Phys. Rev. A 97, 013421 (2018).