Polyatomic trilobite Rydberg molecules in a dense random gas

Perttu J. J. Luukko; Jan-Michael Rost

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.119.203001

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arXiv · 1708.03503

Polyatomic trilobite Rydberg molecules in a dense random gas

Perttu J. J. Luukko·Jan-Michael Rost

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Abstract

Trilobites are exotic giant dimers with enormous dipole moments. They consist of a Rydberg atom and a distant ground-state atom bound together by short-range electron-neutral attraction. We show that highly polar, polyatomic trilobite states unexpectedly persist and thrive in a dense ultracold gas of randomly positioned atoms. This is caused by perturbation-induced quantum scarring and the localization of electron density on randomly occurring atom clusters. At certain densities these states also mix with a s-state, overcoming selection rules that hinder the photoassociation of ordinary trilobites.

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Perttu J. J. Luukko, Jan-Michael Rost. 2017-11-21. Polyatomic trilobite Rydberg molecules in a dense random gas. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.119.203001

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