Robust coherent control of two-body collisions beyond the ultracold regime

Abstract

Quantum coherent control of collisions beyond the ultracold regime can face a major challenge due to the incoherent addition of different partial-wave contributions to the total scattering cross section. These contributions become increasingly numerous as the collision energy increases, leading to a loss of overall control. Here, we overcome this limitation by leveraging the recently discovered partial-wave phase locking (PWPL) effect, which synchronizes the oscillations of all partial-wave contributions. By using rigorous quantum scattering calculations, we demonstrate that PWPL enables coherent control of spin exchange in ion-atom collisions, far outside the ultracold regime. The predicted extent of control is sufficient to be measurable in cold atom-ion hybrid experiments.