Atomic collision pairs in a light field form a microscopic interferometer. The light acts as the beam splitter and controls at the same time the amplitudes and phases of the interfering waves. We demonstrate the complete tunability using linear and elliptic polarization.

Experimental differential cross sections for the collision process Na(3s)2S+Ne+hnu-->Na(3p)2P+Ne are reported. By comparison with calculated cross sections, we are able to discriminate between different spectroscopic and quantum chemical A2Pi potentials with cm(-1) sensitivity.

We report measurements of differential cross sections for optical collisions of Li atoms with He and Ne atoms and H2 and D2 molecules. Oscillatory structures are observed in all cases. For the atomic targets, we find a very good agreement with theoretical results based on close-coupling scattering calculations and recent quantum chemical data, and we derive estimates for the accuracy of the calculated potentials. For the molecular targets, calculations using the rotational sudden approach yield a good agreement with the experiment.

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