  We study polar alkali dimer scattering in a quasi-1D geometry for both
reactive and non-reactive species. Elastic and reactive rates are computed as a
function of the amplitude of a static electric field within a purely long-range
model with suitable boundary conditions at shorter range. We describe the
diatomic molecules as rigid rotors and results are compared to the fixed-dipole
approximation. We show in particular that for molecules with a sufficiently
strong induced dipole moment oriented perpendicular to the trap axis, the
long-range repulsive interaction leads to the suppression of short-range
processes. Such shielding effect occurs for both reactive and non-reactive
molecules, preventing two-body reactions as well as losses due to "sticky
processes" [Phys. Rev. A 85, 062712 (2012)] from occurring. The present results
demonstrate the possibility to suppress loss rates in current ultracold
molecule experiments using 1D confinement.
