Confinement effects on the stimulated dissociation of molecular Bose-Einstein condensates

We show that a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate in a trap is stabilized against stimulated dissociation if the trap size is smaller than the resonance healing length (2/2mgn)1/2. The condensate shape determines the critical atom-molecule coupling frequency. We discuss an experiment for triggering dissociation by a sudden change of coupling or trap parameters. This effect demonstrates one of the unique collective features of "superchemistry" in that the yield of a chemical reaction depends critically on the size and shape of the reaction vessel.