Altering chemical decomposition via magnetic resonance

[Hakasays]

https://phys.org/news/2023-02-physicists-rare-resonance-molecules.html

MIT physicists may have cracked part of this mystery with a new study appearing in the journal Nature. The team reports that they have for the first time observed a resonance in colliding ultracold molecules.

They found that a cloud of super-cooled sodium-lithium (NaLi) molecules disappeared 100 times faster than normal when exposed to a very specific magnetic field. The molecules' rapid disappearance is a sign that the magnetic field tuned the particles into a resonance, driving them to react more quickly than they normally would.

The findings shed light on the mysterious forces that drive molecules to chemically react. They also suggest that scientists could one day harness particles' natural resonances to steer and control certain chemical reactions.

"When two molecules collide, most of the time they don't make it to that intermediate state," says Jamison. "But when they're in resonance, the rate of going to that state goes up dramatically."

"The intermediate complex is the mystery behind all of chemistry," Ketterle adds. "Usually, the reactants and the products of a chemical reaction are known, but not how one leads to the other. Knowing something about the resonance of molecules can give us a fingerprint of this mysterious middle state."

It makes one wonder what other solutions might be lurking in this field, waiting to be discovered.