Hannover 2010 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 9: Ultracold Atoms: Rydberg Gases / Miscellaneous (with A)

Q 9.3: Talk

Monday, March 8, 2010, 17:15–17:30, A 320

Semiclassical analysis of Rydberg molecules — •Gordana Palavestric, Jörg Main, and Günter Wunner — 1. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Stuttgart, 70550 Stuttgart

In cold gases ultra-long range Rydberg molecules have been predicted theoretically [1] and recently observed experimentally [2]. The molecular binding can be described with a Fermi pseudo-potential and the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We present a semiclassical model to describe the interaction. The electron of the highly excited Rydberg atom is scattered at the ground state atom. The transferred momentum causes a force on the neutral atom. We solve the classical equations of motion and investigate the initial condition for the bound dynamics of the “Rydberg molecule”.
[1] C. H. Green, A. S. Dickinson, H. R. Sadeghpour, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2458 (2000).

[2] V. Bendkowsky, B. Butscher, J. Nipper, J. P. Shaffer, R. Löw and T. Pfau, Nature 458, 1005 (2009).