Calculations of long range interactions for 87Sr Rydberg states

Abstract

A method for calculating the properties of Rydberg states and Rydberg–Rydberg interaction between two 87Sr atoms is described. The method is based on a multichannel quantum defect theory description of the Rydberg states that accounts for the hyperfine splitting of the 87Sr+ ground state. Results are given for the scalar and tensor polarizabilities and the eigenvalues of the C6 matrix for the 5sns FT = 9/2 series. These results illustrate the new features that arise due to the hyperfine splitting of the thresholds. In particular, there should be several couple Förster resonances above n = 50 unlike the case of 88Sr which has none.