Ultracold heavy Rydberg systems and Rydberg molecules under a reaction microscope

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Herwig Ott
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 316211972

We propose to create ultracold heavy Rydberg systems composed of a positive and negative rubidium ion. Starting from an ultracold Cloud of rubidium atoms, we will first excite an ultra-long range Rydberg molecule as an intermediate step. The Rydberg molecule can then decay spontaneously or via stimulated emission into the heavy Rydberg system. The study will be done in a reaction microscope, where we have access to the momentum distribution of the chargedparticles, This will allow us to measure the momentum correlations of the two ions. Ultracold Heavy Rydberg systems can have applications as ultracold sources of negative ions and building blocks for strongly coupled plasmas with equal mass of both constituents. A competingdecay channel of the Rydberg molecule is tunneling towards the ionic core, followed by complex dynamics and final dissociation of the molecule in a lower hydrogenic manifold. Using the high temporal resolution of the reaction microscope, we want to study this process in momentum space, thus characterizing the nuclear dynamics of this chemical reaction.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1929: Giant Interactions in Rydberg Systems (GiRyd)