Berlin 2014 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 34: Poster: Ultra-cold atoms, ions and BEC (with Q)

A 34.12: Poster

Wednesday, March 19, 2014, 16:30–18:30, Spree-Palais

Photoassociation of ultralong-range Rydberg tetramers — •Philipp Ilzhöfer, Anita Gaj, Alexander Krupp, Jonathan Balewski, Robert Löw, Sebastian Hofferberth, and Tilman Pfau — 5. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Stuttgart, Germany

Scattering between a Rydberg electron and ground state atoms can lead to the formation of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules in an ultracold gas. For spherically symmetric Rydberg s-state this was done for principle quantum numbers 35-37 [1]. Here we report on the creation of molecules with higher principle quantum numbers n ranging from 40 to 111 from an ultracold gas of Rb atoms. From the measured binding energies we can precisely determine the electron-atom scattering length. For n=62 and n=71 we observe up to four ground state atoms bound in the Rydberg electron scattering potential. Moreover we can measure Frank Condon factors for the photoassociation of molecular ground and vibrational states. With increasing principle quantum numbers we observe decreasing binding energies, resulting eventually in a broadening and a shift of the spectral lines.

[1] V. Bendkowsky et al., Nature 458, 1005–1008 (2009)