Abstract
We investigate the structure and features of an ultralong-range triatomic Rydberg molecule formed by a Rb Rydberg atom and a KRb diatomic molecule. In our numerical description, we perform a realistic treatment of the internal rotational motion of the diatomic molecule, and take into account the Rb(n, l ≥ 3) Rydberg degenerate manifold and the energetically closest neighboring levels with principal quantum numbers n' > n and orbital quantum number l ≤ 2. We focus here on the adiabatic electronic potentials evolving from the Rb(n,l ≥ 3) and Rb(n = 26, l = 2) manifolds. The directional properties of the KRb diatomic molecule within the Rb-KRb triatomic Rydberg molecule are also analyzed in detail.
Highlights
The existence of a new class of ultralong-range polyatomic Rydberg molecules was predicted theoretically [1, 2]
These giant Rydberg molecules possess an electronic structure characterized by oscillating Born-Oppenheimer potential curves evolving from the Rb(n, l ≥ 3) Rydberg manifold with binding energies of a few GHz
We consider a triatomic Rydberg molecule formed by a Rydberg atom and a diatomic heteronuclear molecule, which is located on the Z axis in the laboratory fixed frame (LFF) at a distance R from the ionic core, the latter being placed at the origin of the LFF
Summary
The existence of a new class of ultralong-range polyatomic Rydberg molecules was predicted theoretically [1, 2]. The binding mechanism is established by the electric field of the Rydberg electron and the ionic core that couples either the two internal states or hybridizes the rotational motion of the molecule due to its permanent electric dipole moment The existence of these ultralong-range triatomic Rydberg molecules was predicted for polar diatomic molecules with subcritical electric dipole moments (d0 < 1.639 D) in order to prevent the binding of the Rydberg electron to the heteronuclear (polar) diatomic molecule [4,5,6,7]. These BOPs evolving from the Rb(26d) state present wells with depths of a few MHz that support several vibrational bound states This opens the possibility of creating these macroscopic Rydberg molecules by two-photon excitation of ground-state Rb in an ultracold mixture of Rb and KRb. The orientation and alignment of the diatomic molecule within the Rydberg molecule is analyzed in terms of the contributions to the electric field due to the Rydberg electron and ionic core.
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