title: Suppression of inelastic collisions between polar molecules with a repulsive shield.
abstract: We propose and analyze a technique that allows one to suppress inelastic collisions and simultaneously enhance elastic interactions between cold polar molecules. The main idea is to cancel the leading dipole-dipole interaction with a suitable combination of static electric and microwave fields in such a way that the remaining van der Waals-type potential forms a three-dimensional repulsive shield. We analyze the elastic and inelastic scattering cross sections relevant for evaporative cooling of polar molecules and discuss the prospect for the creation of stable crystalline structures.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Gorshkov
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rabl
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pupillo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Micheli
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zoller
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Lukin
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Büchler