Observation of spin-orbit-dependent electron scattering using long-range Rydberg molecules

Abstract

We present experimental evidence for spin-orbit interaction of an electron as it scatters from a neutral atom. The scattering process takes place within a Rb${}_2$ ultralong-range Rydberg molecule, consisting of a Rydberg atomic core, a Rydberg electron, and a ground state atom. The spin-orbit interaction leads to characteristic level splittings of vibrational molecular lines which we directly observe via photoassociation spectroscopy. We benefit from the fact that molecular states dominated by resonant $p$-wave interaction are particularly sensitive to the spin-orbit interaction. Our work paves the way for studying novel spin dynamics in ultralong-range Rydberg molecules. Furthermore, it shows that the molecular setup can serve as a microlaboratory to perform precise scattering experiments in the low-energy regime of a few meV.

13 pages, 10 figures, 2 tables

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Heteronuclear long-range Rydberg molecules
• Dressed ion-pair states of an ultralong-range Rydberg molecule
• Electric field-induced wave-packet dynamics and geometrical rearrangement of trilobite Rydberg molecules
• Non-adiabatic decay of Rydberg-atom-ion molecules
• Green's function treatment of Rydberg molecules with spins
• Photodissociation of long-range Rydberg molecules
• Observation of effects due to an atom's electric quadrupole polarizability
• The role of Coulomb anti-blockade in the photoassociation of long-range Rydberg molecules
• Triatomic butterfly molecules
• Long-range Rydberg molecule Rb${}_2$: Two-electron \textit{R}-matrix calculations at intermediate internuclear distances
• Spin-orbit-dependent lifetimes of long-range Rydberg molecules