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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 8: Ultra-cold Plasmas and Rydberg Systems I (joint session A/Q)

Q 8.2: Vortrag

Montag, 11. März 2024, 17:15–17:30, HS 1010

Exploring the vibrational series of pure trilobite Rydberg molecules — •Markus Exner, Max Althön, Richard Blättner, and Herwig Ott — RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, Kaiserslautern, Deutschland

We report on the observation of two vibrational series of pure trilobite rubidium Rydberg molecules. These kinds of molecules consist of a Rydberg atom and a ground state atom. The binding mechanism is based on the scattering interaction between the Rydberg electron and the ground state atom. The trilobite molecules are created via three-photon photoassociation and lie energetically more than 15 GHz below the atomic 22F state. In agreement with theoretical calculations, we find an almost perfect harmonic oscillator behavior of six vibrational states. We show that these states can be used to measure electron-atom scattering lengths for low energies in order to benchmark current theoretical calculations. The molecules have extreme properties: their dipole moments are in the range of kilo-Debye and the electronic wave function is made up of high angular momentum states with only little admixture from the nearby 22F state. This high-l character of the trilobite molecules leads to an enlarged lifetime as compared to the 22F atomic state. Furthermore, our ion pulse spectrometer provides insights into the decay processes.

Keywords: Rydberg physics; Rydberg molecules; Trilobite molecules; Recoil-ion momentum spectroscopy