Universal properties in ultracold ion-atom interactions

Abstract

We present some of the universal properties in ion-atom interaction derived from a newly formulated quantum-defect theory for $-1/r^4$ type of long-range interactions. For bound states, we present the universal bound spectrum, namely the equivalent of the Rydberg formula, for ion-atom systems. For scattering, we introduce the concept of universal resonance spectrum to give a systematic understanding of many resonances present in ion-atom scattering. The theory further provides a method for an accurate spectroscopic determination of the atomic polarizability. It also suggests the existence of atom-like molecules, in which multiple atoms orbit around a heavy ion.

4 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Atom Interferometers
• Quantum theory of ultracold atom-ion collisions

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Kinetics of a single trapped ion in an ultracold buffer gas
• Quantum Langevin model for exoergic ion-molecule reactions and inelastic processes