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Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Rubidium pure long-range ion-pair molecules

Ticijana Ban, Robert Beuc, Hrvoje Skenderović, Goran Pichler

Published May 1, 2004• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The Rb 2 ion-pair satellite band located in the blue wing of the rubidium second resonance doublet line was observed in the absorption measurements of a dense rubidium vapor. The observed satellite band was identified as a long-range ion-pair state, by using the Rb 2 long-range potential curves based on ab initio calculations. In order to perform the semiclassical spectral simulations of the observed satellite band, the relevant Rb 2 long-range potential curves and corresponding molecular dipole oscillator strengths were calculated using the asymptotic method. The importance of the observed satellite band (long-range ion-pair state) is discussed in connection with the formation of Rb 2 ultracold molecules.

DOI
10.1209/epl/i2003-10241-9

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The Rb 2 ion-pair satellite band located in the blue wing of the rubidium second resonance doublet line was observed in the absorption measurements of a dense rubidium vapor. The observed satellite band was identified as a long-range ion-pair state, by using the Rb 2 long-range potential curves based on ab initio calculations. In order to perform the semiclassical spectral simulations of the observed satellite band, the relevant Rb 2 long-range potential curves and corresponding molecular dipole oscillator strengths were calculated using the asymptotic method. The importance of the observed satellite band (long-range ion-pair state) is discussed in connection with the formation of Rb 2 ultracold molecules.
We report on the observation of three RbCs satellite bands in the blue and green ranges of the visible spectrum. Absorption measurements are performed using all-sapphire cell filled with a mixture of Rb and Cs. We compare high resolution absorption spectrum of Rb-Cs vapor mixture with pure Rb and Cs vapor spectra from the literature. After detailed analysis, the new satellite bands of RbCs molecule at 418.3 nm, 468.3, and 527.5 nm are identified. The origin of these bands is discussed by direct comparison with difference potentials derived from quantum chemistry calculations of RbCs potential energy curves. These bands originate from the lower Rydberg states of the RbCs molecule. This study thus provides further insight into photoassociation of lower Rydberg molecular states, approximately between Cs(7s) + Rb(5s) and Cs(6s) + Rb(6p) asymptotes, in ultracold gases.
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We propose a realizable and efficient approach for exciting long-range ion-pair molecules, known as heavy Rydberg states, in an ultracold 85{}^{85}85Rb gas via Feshbach resonances. Heavy Rydberg states, the molecular analogs of electronic Rydberg states, with the electron replaced by an atomic anion, offer opportunities for novel physics, including the formation of ultracold anions and strongly coupled plasmas. We map the positions, lifetimes, and Franck-Condon factors of heavy Rydberg resonances across a wide range of excitation energies, and we calculate the rates of formation for the most promising transitions through long-lived intermediate interferometric resonances.
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Measurements are presented for the blue-wing satellite bands of the Rb first resonance line (780 nm) emitted in the presence of the noble gases Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. The continuum intensity per spectral interval and perturber density is expressed as a fraction of the total Rb (780 nm) fluorescence from optically thin vapor. Over the \ensuremath{\sim}1018{10}^{18}1018-1019{10}^{19}1019 cm3{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}cm3 density range investigated this normalized satellite-peak intensity is found to scale linearly with perturber density and approximately exponentially in $\frac{\ensuremath{-}1}{T},T$ being the absolute temperature. In the classically forbidden region beyond the satellite peak the intensity drops exponentially with frequency for Xe perturbers, but departs from exponential behavior in the Ar and Kr data. We observe undulations in the spectra between line center and the satellite. This is expected due to the possibility of interference between contributions to the transition probability at two internuclear separations, the separations at which the difference potential equals the photon energy.
Vibrational properties of ultralong Rydberg Cs2_22​ molecules are investigated on corresponding potential curves obtained by perturbation theory. The Rydberg Cs2_22​ molecules are associated by a Rydberg Cs(nS/nPnS/nPnS/nP) atom (n=30−70)(n=30-70)(n=30−70) and a ground state Cs(6s6s6s) atom. The starting point for the perturbation treatment of corresponding Rydberg molecular potential curves is to generate accurate atomic Rydberg states from realistic {\it ab initio} effective core potential. The calculated results have similar characteristics with available experimental and theoretical investigations on Rydberg Rb2_22​ molecules. And this is the first time that Rydberg molecules are studied at the {\it ab initio} level.