Fall seminar Doing Cool Chemistry with Cold Physics by Dr. Douglas Goodman November 20, 2019 11:00am Buckman Theater

Fall seminar Doing Cool Chemistry with Cold Physics by Dr. Douglas Goodman November 20, 2019 11:00am Buckman Theater

Dr. Douglas Goodman Assistant Professor Physics
November 20, 2019 11:00am Buckman Theater

Modern laser techniques can provide quantum-limited control of an atom or ion’s electronic state during a chemical reaction. Results of one such experiment examining laser-controlled charge-exchange reactions between co-trapped cold sodium atoms (~500 uK) and calcium ions (~100 K) will be presented. The study demonstrated how the reaction rates of individual entrance channels can be measured and manipulated by controlling the reactants' electronic states and/or collision energy. Of the channels studied, the Na[P] + Ca+[D] channel was the strongest with a rate constant ~10-8 cm3/s at an ion temperature of 200 K, which exceeds the classically predicted Langevin rate limit.

Dr. Goodman is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Quinnipiac University. He earned his B.S. at Trinity College (2006) and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Connecticut (2015). Prof. Goodman's research interests are in the field of experimental ultracold atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics.