Hyunwook Park

Dipole-dipole-coupled double-Rydberg molecules

We show that the dipole-dipole interaction between two Rydberg atoms can give rise to long range molecules. The binding potential arises from two states that converge to different separated atom asymptotes. These states interact weakly at large distances, but start to repel each other strongly as the van der Waals interaction turns into a resonant dipole-dipole interaction with decreasing separation between the atoms. This mechanism leads to the formation of an attractive well for one of the potentials. If the two separated atom asymptotes come from the small Stark splitting of an atomic Rydberg level, which lifts the Zeeman degeneracy, the depth of the well and the location of its minimum are controlled by the external electric field. We discuss two different geometries that result in a localized and a donut shaped potential, respectively.

Dipole-dipole broadening of Rb ns-np microwave transitions

The dipole-dipole broadening of ns-np microwave transitions of cold Rb Rydberg atoms in a magneto-optical trap has been recorded for 28{<=}n{<=}51. Since the electric dipole transition matrix elements scale as n{sup 2}, a broadening rate scaling as n{sup 4} is expected and a broadening rate of 8.2x10{sup -15}n{sup 4} MHz cm{sup 3} is observed. The observed broadening is smaller than expected from a classical picture due to the spin-orbit interaction in the np atoms. The broadened resonances are asymmetric and cusp shaped, and their line shapes can be reproduced by a diatomic model which takes into account the dipole-dipole interaction, including the spin-orbit interaction, the strengths of the allowed microwave transitions, and the distribution of the atomic spacings in the trap.