Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 41: Precision Spectroscopy of Atoms and Ions V / Ultra-cold Plasmas and Rydberg Systems II (joint session A/Q)

A 41.7: Talk

Friday, March 15, 2024, 16:00–16:15, HS 1098

NON-ADIABATIC COUPLINGS AS A STABILIZATION MECHANISM IN LONG-RANGE RYDBERG MOLECULES — AILEEN DURST, •MILENA SIMIĆ, NEETHU ABRAHAM, and MATTHEW EILES — Max-Planck-Institut for The Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany

The electronic potential curves of long-range Rydberg molecules composed of a Rydberg atom and a ground-state atom possess several distinctive features, including oscillations as a function of internuclear distance and, for an alkaline ground state atom, a steep drop when the electron-atom scattering interaction becomes resonant. This latter feature is accompanied by a narrow avoided crossing between potential energy curves, which implies that non-adiabatic couplings could become significant very close to the position of this rapid change in the potential curve. When these couplings are sufficiently strong, they can stabilize the molecule by shielding the vibrational states from the steep drop and possible decay. To demonstrate the importance of the non-adiabatic couplings in a rubidium Rydberg molecule, we compare the binding energies and lifetimes of the vibrational states obtained in the Born Oppenheimer approximation with those including beyond-Born Oppenheimer effects.

Keywords: Rydberg Molecules; Non-adiabatic Effects; Quantum Reflection; Born-Oppenheimer Approximation