Chemical pathways in ultracold reactions of SrF molecules

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.83.032714· OSTI ID:21541292

Meyer, Edmund R; Bohn, John L ^[1]

---

1. JILA, NIST, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440 (United States)

We present a theoretical investigation of the chemical reaction SrF + SrF {yields} products, focusing on reactions at ultralow temperatures. We find that bond swapping SrF + SrF {yields} Sr{sub 2} + F{sub 2} is energetically forbidden at these temperatures. Rather, the only energetically allowed reaction is SrF + SrF {yields} SrF{sub 2} + Sr, and even then only singlet states of the SrF{sub 2} trimer can form. A calculation along a reduced reaction path demonstrates that this abstraction reaction is barrierless and proceeds by one SrF molecule ''handing off'' a fluorine atom to the other molecule.

• OSTI ID: 21541292
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Vol. 83, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.032714; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
FLUORINE
MOLECULES
STRONTIUM
STRONTIUM FLUORIDES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0000-0013 K
THEORETICAL DATA
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ALKALINE EARTH METALS
DATA
ELEMENTS
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HALOGENS
INFORMATION
METALS
NONMETALS
NUMERICAL DATA
STRONTIUM COMPOUNDS
TEMPERATURE RANGE