Journal article
Towards chemistry at absolute zero
- Abstract:
- The prospect of cooling matter down to temperatures that are close to absolute zero raises intriguing questions about how chemical reactivity changes under these extreme conditions. Although some types of chemical reaction still occur at 1 μK, they can no longer adhere to the conventional picture of reactants passing over an activation energy barrier to become products. Indeed, at ultracold temperatures, the system enters a fully quantum regime, and quantum mechanics replaces the classical picture of colliding particles. In this Review, we discuss recent experimental and theoretical developments that allow us to explore chemical reactions at temperatures that range from 100 K to 500 nK. Although the field is still in its infancy, exceptional control has already been demonstrated over reactivity at low temperatures.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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- Files:
-
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(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 257.9KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1038/s41570-020-00239-0
Authors
+ Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
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- Grant:
- GDGD.RRAH18994
- EP/N032950/1
- Publisher:
- Springer Nature
- Journal:
- Nature Reviews Chemistry More from this journal
- Volume:
- 5
- Pages:
- 125-140
- Publication date:
- 2021-01-12
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-11-17
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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2397-3358
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1146082
- Local pid:
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pubs:1146082
- Deposit date:
-
2020-11-19
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Springer Nature Limited
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- Copyright © 2021, Springer Nature Limited
- Notes:
-
This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available from Springer Nature at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-020-00239-0
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