Erlangen 2022 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 8: Poster 1

MO 8.5: Poster

Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 16:30–18:30, P

Signatures of non-adiabatic physics in the vibrational spectrum of Rydberg molecules — •Aileen Antje Theresia Durst and Matthew Travis Eiles — Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzer Str. 38, D-01187 Dresden, Germany

A highly excited valence electron of a Rydberg atom scattering off of a ground state atom forms an ultra-long range molecule. A distinctive feature of these molecules is the so-called butterfly potential curve, which plunges through the potentials associated with low electronic angular momentum and induces a rapid, almost step-like, variation in them. Despite this drop in the potential, which destroys the inner potential barrier, stable vibrational states still exist. The occurrence of such bound states has been explained by quantum reflection from the steep drop in the potential. However, non-adiabatic couplings which arise and may become quite strong near this cliff have been neglected. We have developed approximate potentials which give strong indications that this non-adiabatic coupling can provide an alternative explanation for these unusual bound states. In this poster, we present our study of the vibrational spectrum including non-adiabatic coupling. By numerically calculating the full non-adiabatic problem and extracting the vibrational spectra, we can compare this method to the purely adiabatic approach relying on quantum reflection. Our study shows that long-range Rydberg dimers can provide an extreme environment to test the usual assumptions of Born-Oppenheimer physics and obtain further insights into non-adiabatic phenomena.