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arXiv · 2005.12672

Heteronuclear long-range Rydberg molecules

Michael Peper·Johannes Deiglmayr
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Abstract

We present the formation of homonuclear Cs2, K2, and heteronuclear CsK long-range Rydberg molecules in a dual-species magneto-optical trap for 39K and 133Cs by one-photon UV photoassociation. The different ground-state-density dependence of homo- and heteronuclear photoassociation rates and the detection of stable molecular ions resulting from auto-ionization provide an unambiguous assignment. We perform bound-bound millimeter-wave spectroscopy of long-range Rydberg molecules to access molecular states not accessible by one-photon photoassociation. Calculations based on the most recent theoretical model and atomic parameters do not reproduce the full set of data from homo- and heteronuclear long-range Rydberg molecules consistently. This shows that photoassociation and millimeter-wave spectroscopy of heteronuclear long-range Rydberg molecules provide a benchmark for the development of theoretical models.

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Michael Peper, Johannes Deiglmayr. 2020-05-26. Heteronuclear long-range Rydberg molecules. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.126.013001

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