Quantum State-resolved Molecular Dipolar Collisions over Four Decades of Energy

Collisions between cold polar molecules represent a fascinating research frontier but have proven hard to probe experimentally. We report measurements of inelastic cross sections for collisions between nitric oxide (NO) and deuterated ammonia (ND) molecules at energies between 0.1 and 580 centimeter, with full quantum state resolution. At energies below the ~100-centimeter well depth of the interaction potential, we observed backward glories originating from peculiar U-turn trajectories. At energies below 0.2 centimeter, we observed a breakdown of the Langevin capture model, which we interpreted in terms of a suppressed mutual polarization during the collision, effectively switching off the molecular dipole moments. Scattering calculations based on an ab initio NO-ND potential energy surface revealed the crucial role of near-degenerate rotational levels with opposite parity in low-energy dipolar collisions.