Coherent Control of Penning and Associative Ionization: Insights from Symmetries

Abstract

Coherent control of reactive atomic and molecular collision processes remains elusive experimentally due to quantum interference-based requirements. Here, with insights from symmetry conditions, a viable method for controlling Penning and Associative ionization in atomic collisions is proposed. Computational applications to He$^*({}^3\text{S})$-Li(${^2\text{S}}$) and Ne$^*{}(^3\text{P}_2$)-Ar($^1\text{S}_0$) show extensive control over the ionization processes under experimentally feasible conditions.