Hamburg 2009 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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A: Fachverband Atomphysik
A 15: Poster I
A 15.51: Poster
Dienstag, 3. März 2009, 16:30–19:00, VMP 9 Poster
Observation of ultra long-range Rydberg molecules — Vera Bendkowsky1, Björn Butscher1, •Johannes Nipper1, Jonathan Balewski1, James P. Shaffer1,2, Robert Löw1, and Tilman Pfau1 — 1Universität Stuttgart, Germany — 2University of Oklahoma, USA
We report on the observation of ultra long-range molecules, first proposed by Greene et. al. [1], bound by low energy scattering of Rydberg electrons from polarisable ground state atoms. The novel binding mechanism leads to well defined internuclear separations of some thousand Bohr radii.
Rydberg states between 34S and 40S are excited in a dense cloud of magnetically trapped Rubidium. The excitation spectra show clear evidence for dimer as well as trimer molecules in the vibrational ground states and excited states. The measured binding energies coincide with theoretical calculations taking into account s- and p-wave scattering. The low energy s-wave electron scattering length could be determined. Lifetime measurements for the pure Rydberg state and the molecular dimer state show a decreased lifetime of the molecular state. The coherent excitation dynamics of the dimer and the Rydberg state are studied in rotary echo experiments.
[1] C.H. Greene et al, Phys. Rev. Lett 85, 2458 (2000)