Related papers: Hybridization of Rydberg electron orbitals by mole…
The interaction between a Rydberg electron and a neutral atom situated inside its extended orbit is described via contact interactions for each atom-electron scattering channel. In ultracold environments, these interactions lead to…
This Ph.D. tutorial discusses ultra-long-range Rydberg molecules, the exotic bound states of a Rydberg atom and one or more ground state atoms immersed in the Rydberg electron's wave function. This novel chemical bond is distinct from an…
The theory is developed for one and two atom interactions when the atom has a Rydberg electron attached to a hyperfine split core state. This situation is relevant for some of the rare earth and alkaline earth atoms that have been proposed…
We investigate properties of ultralong-range polyatomic molecules formed with a Rb Rydberg atom and several ground-state atoms whose distance from the Rydberg atom is of the order of n^2a_0, where n is the principle quantum number of the…
A fascinating aspect of Rydberg atoms is their ability to form huge but very weakly bound molecules with a ground state atom, only held together by a scattering process between the latter and the Rydberg electron. Beyond the usual way of…
We predict the existence of a class of ultracold giant molecules formed from trapped ultracold Rydberg atoms and polar molecules. The interaction which leads to the formation of such molecules is the anisotropic charge-dipole interaction…
We describe the emergence of strong spatial correlations, akin to liquid-like behavior and crystallization effects, in low (one and two) dimensional gases of cold Rydberg atoms. The presence of an external electric field permanently…
The properties and behaviour of a Ring Rydberg Composite are explicated. This system consists of a ring of ground state atoms centered on a Rydberg atom, whose electron elastically scatters off the ground state atoms. We transform the…
A Rydberg molecule is composed of an outer electron that collides on the residual ionic core. Typical states of Rydberg molecules display entanglement between the outer electron and the core. In this work we quantify the average…
Cold Rydberg atoms exposed to strong magnetic fields possess unique properties which open the pathway for an intriguing many-body dynamics taking place in Rydberg gases consisting of either matter or anti-matter systems. We review both the…
We present a method to design a finite decay rate for excited rotational states in polar molecules. The setup is based on a hybrid system of polar molecules with atoms driven into a Rydberg state. The atoms and molecules are coupled via the…
We present a novel binding mechanism where a neutral Rydberg atom and an atomic ion form a molecular bound state at large internuclear distance. The binding mechanism is based on Stark shifts and level crossings which are induced in the…
We investigate the impact of an electric field on the structure of ultralong-range polar diatomic Rydberg molecules. Both the s-wave and p-wave interactions of the Rydberg electron and the neutral ground state atom are taken into account.…
Recent developments in the study of ultracold Rydberg gases demand an advanced level of experimental sophistication, in which high atomic and optical densities must be combined with excellent control of external fields and sensitive Rydberg…
We investigate the fine and spin structure of ultralong-range Rydberg molecules exposed to a homogeneous magnetic field. Each molecule consists of a $^{87}$Rb Rydberg atom whose outer electron interacts via spin-dependent $s$- and p-wave…
We investigate the impact of combined electric and magnetic fields on the structure of ultralong-range polar Rydberg molecules. Our focus is hereby on the parallel as well as the crossed field configuration taking into account both the…
We report on the formation of ultralong-range Rydberg D-state molecules via photoassociation in an ultracold cloud of rubidium atoms. By applying a magnetic offset field on the order of 10 G and high resolution spectroscopy, we are able to…
We have studied the associative ionization of a Rydberg atom and a ground state atom in an ultracold Rydberg gas. The measured scattering cross section is three orders of magnitude larger than the geometrical size of the produced molecule.…
We probe resonant dipolar interactions between ultracold $^{40}$K$^{87}$Rb molecules and Rydberg $^{87}$Rb atoms in an optically trapped ensemble. Through state-selective ionization detection of the KRb molecules, we observe resonant energy…
We present an overview of our recent investigations of long-range interactions in an ultracold Cs Rydberg gas. These interactions are studied by high-resolution photoassociation spectroscopy, using excitation close to one-photon transitions…