Dynamics of reactive ultracold alkali polar molecules

Recently, ultracold polar molecules of KRb have been created. These molecules are chemically reactive and their lifetime in a trap is limited [1]. However, their lifetime increases when they are loaded into a 1D optical lattice in the presence of an electric field [2]. These results naturally raise the question of manipulating ultracold collisions of other species of alkali dimer molecules, with an eye toward both novel stereochemistry, as well as suppressing unwanted reactions, to enable condensed matter applications. In this talk, we report on a comparative study between the bi-alkali polar molecules of LiNa, LiK, LiRb, LiCs which have been predicted to be reactive [3]. We compute the isotropic C$_6$ coefficients of these systems and we predict the elastic and reactive rate coefficients when an electric field is applied in a 1D optical lattice. We will discuss the efficacy of evaporative cooling for each species.\\[4pt] [1] Ni et al., Science 322, 231 (2008); Ospelkaus et al., Science 327, 853 (2010); Ni et al., Nature 464, 1324 (2010). [2] Qu\'em\'ener et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 060701(R) (2010) ; Qu\'em\'ener et al., Phys. Rev. A 83, 012705 (2011); de Miranda et al., arXiv:1010.3731, to appear in Nature Physics. [3] Zuchowski et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 060703(R) (2010).