Atomic and molecular collisions is a research area focused on the dynamics of interactions between atoms, molecules, ions, and electrons over a wide range of energies, from ultracold to relativistic regimes. It investigates elastic, inelastic, and reactive scattering processes, including energy transfer, excitation, ionization, charge transfer, and chemical reaction pathways. The field combines quantum scattering theory, potential energy surface calculations, and semiclassical or fully quantum dynamical methods with beam, trap, and plasma experiments. Applications span astrophysics, atmospheric and plasma physics, fusion research, radiation damage, and controlled chemistry, providing benchmark data for cross sections, rate coefficients, and collisional models used in simulations of complex many-body systems.
Experimental atomic physicists have discovered there is a maximum amount of electrical resistance, or resistivity, that can result from collisions between electrons.
General Physics
Jun 16, 2026
0
100
Certain substances can become magnetic when exposed to an external magnetic field. Magnetic susceptibility measures how easily a material can be magnetized. Materials known as organic radicals have been noted to possess anomalously ...
Condensed Matter
Jun 16, 2026
1
13
How do you take measurements using one of the most sensitive scales in the world? Researchers at TU Wien have demonstrated how the measurement process affects not only the object being measured but also the scale itself, ...
General Physics
Jun 9, 2026
0
28
When rockets fire into space, the insides of their engines become an extreme environment where temperatures soar and tiny particles are thrown around at hypersonic speeds. These particles behave in ways that break long-held ...
General Physics
Jun 2, 2026
0
29
Two independent research teams have each demonstrated collisional quantum gates using fermionic atoms: a long-sought milestone in quantum computing where logic operations are performed through the direct physical overlap ...
A new analysis reveals what happens when very short or narrow electron beams encounter a particle. The research is published in the New Journal of Physics. Scientists should be able to achieve a new level of control over ...
Optics & Photonics
Apr 8, 2026
0
57
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have succeeded in detecting laser-assisted electron scattering (LAES) using circularly polarized light for the first time. The use of circularly polarized light promises valuable ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 16, 2026
0
37
Water is all around us, yet its surface layer—home to chemical reactions that shape life on Earth—is surprisingly hard to study. Experiments at SLAC's X-ray laser are bringing it into focus.
Optics & Photonics
Dec 12, 2025
1
110
Why does lead behave so differently from every other atomic nucleus when struck by electrons? A team of physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has taken an important step toward answering this question, only ...
General Physics
Dec 3, 2025
0
104
The molecular hydrogen ion H₂⁺ is the simplest molecule. This simplicity makes it a perfect study object for physicists, as its properties—for example, its energy levels—can be calculated precisely. In turn, this enables ...
General Physics
Sep 9, 2025
0
231
