$In$ $situ$ observation of non-polar to strongly polar atom-ion collision dynamics

Autor: Berngruber, Moritz, Bosworth, Daniel J., Herrera-Sancho, Oscar A., Anasuri, Viraatt S. V., Zuber, Nico, Hummel, Frederic, Krauter, Jennifer, Meinert, Florian, Löw, Robert, Schmelcher, Peter, Pfau, Tilman
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 083001 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.083001
Popis: The onset of collision dynamics between an ion and a Rydberg atom is studied in a regime characterized by a multitude of collision channels. These channels arise from coupling between a non-polar Rydberg state and numerous highly polar Stark states. The interaction potentials formed by the polar Stark states show a substantial difference in spatial gradient compared to the non-polar state leading to a separation of collisional timescales, which is observed in situ. For collision energies in the range of $k_\textrm{B}\cdot\mu$K to $k_\textrm{B}\cdot$K, the dynamics exhibit a counter-intuitive dependence on temperature, resulting in faster collision dynamics for cold - initially "slow" - systems. Dipole selection rules enable us to prepare the collision pair on the non-polar potential in a highly controlled manner, which determines occupation of the collision channels. The experimental observations are supported by semi-classical simulations, which model the pair state evolution and provide evidence for tunable non-adiabatic dynamics.
Databáze: arXiv