Abstract
We report the observation of cold Cs Rydberg-atom molecules bound at internuclear separations of R∼3–9 μm. The bound states result from avoided crossings between Rydberg-atom-pair interaction potentials in an applied electric field. The molecular states can be modified by changing the applied electric field. The molecules are observed by mapping the radial separation of the two Rydberg atoms as a function of time delay between excitation and detection using the Coulomb repulsion of the ions after pulsed field ionization. Measurements were performed for 63D+65D, 64D+66D, 65D+67D and 66D+68D pairs. The experiment is in good agreement with calculations of the pair interactions for these states.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Greene, C. H., Dickinson, A. S. & Sadeghpour, H. R. Creation of polar and nonpolar ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules. Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2458–2461 (2000).
Boisseau, C., Simbotin, I. & Cote, R. Macrodimers: Ultralong range Rydberg molecules. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 133004 (2002).
Leonard, J. et al. Giant helium dimers produced by photoassociation of ultracold metastable atoms. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 073203 (2003).
Schwettmann, A., Overstreet, K. R., Tallant, J. & Shaffer, J.P. Long range Cs Rydberg molecules. J. Mod. Opt. 54, 2551–2562 (2007).
Bendkowsky, V. et al. Novel binding mechanism for ultra-long range molecules. Nature 458, 1005–1008 (2009).
Mourachko, I. et al. Many-body effects in a frozen Rydberg gas. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 253–256 (1998).
Anderson, W. R., Veale, J. R. & Gallagher, T. F. Resonant dipole–dipole energy transfer in a nearly frozen Rydberg gas. Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 249–252 (1998).
Farooqi, S. M. et al. Long-range molecular resonances in a cold Rydberg gas. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 183002 (2003).
Overstreet, K. R., Schwettmann, A., Tallant, J. & Shaffer, J. P. Photoinitiated collisions between cold Cs Rydberg atoms. Phys. Rev. A 76, 011403(R) (2007).
Schwettmann, A., Crawford, J., Overstreet, K. R. & Shaffer, J. P. Cold Cs Rydberg-gas interactions. Phys. Rev. A 74, 020701(R) (2006).
Tallant, J., Overstreet, K. R., Schwettmann, A. & Shaffer, J. P. Sub-Doppler magneto-optical trap temperatures measured using Rydberg tagging. Phys. Rev. A 74, 023410 (2006).
Farley, J. W. & Wing, W. H. Accurate calculation of dynamic Stark shifts and depopulation rates of Rydberg energy levels induced by blackbody radiation. Hydrogen, helium, and alkali-metal atoms. Phys. Rev. A 23, 2397–2424 (1981).
He, X., Li, B., Chen, A. & Zhang, C. Model-potential calculation of lifetimes of Rydberg states of alkali atoms. J. Phys. B 23, 661–678 (1990).
Mons, M. & Dimicoli, I. Angular correlation between photofragment velocity and angular momentum measured by resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization detection. J. Chem. Phys. 90, 4037–4047 (1989).
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge support from AFOSR (FA9550-05-0328) and ARO (W911NF-08-1-0257).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this paper.
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Overstreet, K., Schwettmann, A., Tallant, J. et al. Observation of electric-field-induced Cs Rydberg atom macrodimers. Nature Phys 5, 581–585 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1307
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1307
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Observation of a molecular bond between ions and Rydberg atoms
Nature (2022)
-
Ultracold Rydberg molecules
Nature Communications (2018)
-
The making and breaking of bonds
Nature Physics (2010)