5. Physikalisches Institut and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.
Zentrum für optische Quantentechnologien, Fachbereich Physik, Universität Hamburg, 22761 Hamburg, Germany.
Phys Rev Lett. 2019 Aug 16;123(7):073003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.073003.
The level structure of negative ions near the electron detachment limit dictates the low-energy scattering of an electron with the parent neutral atom. We demonstrate that a single ultracold atom bound inside a Rydberg orbit forming an ultralong-range Rydberg molecule provides an atomic-scale system that is highly sensitive to electron-neutral scattering and thus allows for detailed insights into the underlying near-threshold anion states. Our measurements reveal the so-far unobserved fine structure of the ^{3}P_{J} triplet of Rb^{-} and allows us to extract parameters of the associated p-wave scattering resonances that deviate from previous theoretical estimates. Moreover, we observe a novel alignment mechanism for Rydberg molecules mediated by spin-orbit coupling in the negative ion.
负离子在电子亲合势附近的能级结构决定了电子与母体中性原子的低能散射。我们证明，单个束缚在里德堡轨道内的超冷原子形成超远距离里德堡分子，提供了一个对电子-中性散射高度敏感的原子尺度系统，从而能够深入了解潜在的近阈阴离子态。我们的测量揭示了迄今为止未观察到的 Rb^{-} 的 ^{3}P_{J}三重态的精细结构，并使我们能够提取与相关 p 波散射共振相关的参数，这些参数偏离了先前的理论估计。此外，我们观察到一种由负离子中的自旋轨道耦合介导的新型里德堡分子取向机制。
