Dear colleagues,
We would like to invite everyone for a lecture by Rosario González Férez.
Date
Tuesday 24 September 2024
Time
16:00h (drinks at 17:00h)
Room
HG00.304
Speaker
Professor Rosario González Férez, Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear & Instituto Carlos I de Física Teórica y Computacional, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
Title & Abstract
Polyatomic ultralong range Rydberg molecules
The exotic properties of Rydberg atoms make them unique probes of their environments. In hybrid systems, they form ultralong-range molecules when combined with ground-state atoms [1,2], ions [3], or polar molecules [4,5] which inherit these exciting properties.
When the diatomic polar molecule is immersed into the wave function of the excited atom, the anisotropic scattering of the Rydberg electron from the permanent electric dipole moment of the dimer is responsible for the binding mechanism in these Rydberg molecules [4,5]. In this talk, we explore the electronic structure and main properties of these exotic ultralong-range molecules formed by a Rydberg system interacting with ground state molecules either RbCs or NO [5-7]. Our focus is the regime where the charge-dipole interaction of the Rydberg electron with the diatomic polar molecule induces a coupling between the quantum defect Rydberg states and the nearest degenerate hydrogenic manifold. Based on the non-adiabatic couplings between neighbouring potentials, we propose a protocol to create these molecules experimentally in these electronic states from a mixture of ultracold atoms and ultracold molecules [7].
In addition, we present the first experimental demonstration of the Rydberg blockade due to the charge-dipole interaction between a single Rb atom and a single RbCs molecule [8]. The atom and molecule are confined in optical tweezers, which are used to control their relative distance. For a separation of 310 nm, the charge-dipole interaction between the Rydberg electron and atomic core with the dipole moment of RbCs provokes the blockade of the transition to the Rb(52s) Rydberg state. The observed excitation dynamics are in excellent agreement with the theoretical results obtained using the electronic structure of the Rydberg molecule Rb-RbCs [8].
[1] C.H. Greene, A.S. Dickinson, and H. R. Sadeghpour, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2458 (2000).
[2] V. Bendkowsky, et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 163201 (2010).
[3] N. Zuber, et al, Nature 605, 453–456 (2022).
[4] S.T. Rittenhouse and H.R. Sadeghpour, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 243002 (2010).
[5] R. González-Férez, H.R. Sadeghpour and P. Schmelcher, New J. Phys. 17, 013021 (2015).
[6] R. González-Férez, J. Shertzer and H. R. Sadeghpour, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 043401 (2021).
[7] R. González-Férez, et al, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 53, 074002 (2020).
[8] A. Guttridge, et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 013401 (2023).
Preceded by Evy Meeusen – Synthetic Organic Chemistry
Carbohydrate Allergies: The Search for a Needle in a Haystack
We hope to see all of you there!
Best regards,
IMM Colloquium Committee
