Stereodynamic control of overlapping resonances in cold molecular collisions

Abstract

Stereodynamic control of resonant molecular collisions has emerged as a new frontier in cold molecule research. Recent experimental studies have focused on weakly interacting molecular systems such as HD collisions with H$_2$, D$_2$ and He. We report here the possibility of such control in strongly interacting systems taking rotational relaxation in cold collisions of HCl and H$_2$. Using explicit quantum scattering calculations in full six dimensions it is shown that robust control of the collision dynamics is possible even when multiple (overlapping) shape-resonances coexist in a narrow energy range, indicating that cold stereochemistry offers great promise for many molecules beyond simple systems. We demonstrate a striking case where two prominent peaks in overlapping resonances are switched-off simultaneously by suitable alignment of the HCl molecule.