Quantum suppression of cold reactions far from the quantum regime

Reactions between pairs of atoms are ubiquitous processes in chemistry and physics. Quantum scattering effects on reactions are only observed at extremely ultracold temperatures, close to the s-wave regime, with a small number of partial waves involved. At higher temperatures, the different phases associated with the centrifugal barriers of different partial waves average-out quantum interference to yield semi-classical reaction rates. Here we use quantum-logic to experimentally study resonant charge-exchange reactions between single cold pairs of neutral 87Rb atoms and optically-inaccessible 87Rb+ ions far above the s-wave regime. We find that the measured charge-exchange rate is greatly suppressed with respect to the semi-classical prediction. Our results indicate for the first time that quantum interference persists and effects reaction rates at very high temperatures, at least three orders of magnitude higher than the ultracold s-wave regime.