Observation of Rydberg-atom macrodimers: micrometer-sized diatomic molecules

Abstract

Long-range metastable molecules consisting of two cesium atoms in high Rydberg states have been observed in an ultracold gas. A sequential three-photon two-color photoassociation scheme was employed to form these molecules in states which correlate to $np(n+1)s$ dissociation asymptotes. Spectral signatures of bound molecular states are clearly resolved at the positions of avoided crossings between long-range van der Waals potential curves. The experimental results are in agreement with simulations based on a detailed model of the long-range multipole-multipole interactions of Rydberg-atom pair states. We show that a full model is required to accurately predict the occurrence of bound Rydberg macrodimers. The macrodimers are distinguished from repulsive molecular states by their behavior with respect to spontaneous ionization and possible decay channels are discussed.

6 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (7)

• A High Phase-Space-Density Gas of Polar Molecules
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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Realizing distance-selective interactions in a Rydberg-dressed atom array
• Long-range Rydberg-atom-ion molecules of Rb and Cs
• Long-range atom-ion Rydberg molecule: A novel molecular binding mechanism
• Observation of vibrational dynamics of orientated Rydberg-atom-ion molecules
• Neutral atom entanglement using adiabatic Rydberg dressing
• Vibronic interactions in trilobite and butterfly Rydberg molecules
• Microscopic electronic structure tomography of Rydberg macrodimers
• Non-adiabatic decay of Rydberg-atom-ion molecules
• Rydberg Macrodimers: Diatomic molecules on the micrometer scale
• Individual assembly of two-species Rydberg molecules using optical tweezers
• Microwave photo-association of fine-structure-induced Rydberg $(n+2)D_{5/2}n{F}_J$ macro-dimer molecules of cesium
• Extended Bose-Hubbard models with Rydberg macrodimer dressing
• Rydberg atom arrays as quantum simulators for molecular dynamics