Signatures of Non-universal Quantum Dynamics of Ultracold Chemical Reactions of Polar Alkali-dimer Molecules with Alkali-metal Atoms: Li($^2$S) +NaLi($a^3\Sigma^+$) $\to$ Na($^2$S) + Li$_2$($a^3\Sigma_u^+$)

Abstract

Ultracold chemical reactions of weakly bound triplet-state alkali-metal dimer molecules have recently attracted much experimental interest. We perform rigorous quantum scattering calculations with a new $ab\, initio$ potential energy surface to explore the chemical reaction of spin-polarized NaLi($a^3\Sigma^+$) and Li($^2$S) to form Li$_2$($a^3\Sigma_u^+$) and Na($^2$S). The reaction is exothermic, and proceeds readily at ultralow temperatures. Significantly, we observe strong sensitivity of the total reaction rate to small variations of the three-body part of the Li$_2$Na interaction at short range, which we attribute to a relatively small number of open Li$_2$($a^3\Sigma_u^+$) product channels populated in the reaction. This provides the first signature of highly non-universal dynamics seen in rigorous quantum reactive scattering calculations of an ultracold exothermic insertion reaction involving a polar alkali-dimer molecule, opening up the possibility of probing microscopic interactions in atom+molecule collision complexes via ultracold reactive scattering experiments.