Control of Diabatic versus Adiabatic Field Dissociation in a Heavy Rydberg System

Abstract

A novel phenomenon is observed in the dynamics of laser-prepared coherent wave packets, bound by the Coulombic 1=r potential of an ion-pair system. After exciting weakly bound (3 meV) H F ÿ wave packets in a Stark field, and permitting them to evolve in time, control of field dissociation via adiabatic and diabatic routes is demonstrated by applying delayed pulsed-electric fields, involving a zero-field crossing. Control manifests itself through the production of ions from each pathway at a different instant in time. This phenomenon is applied to map the oscillatory behavior of an angular momentum wave packet in a heavy Rydberg system. The characteristic frequencies of the observed Stark oscillations verify predicted mass-scaling laws for heavy Rydberg systems.

Lifetimes of heavy-Rydberg ion-pair states formed through Rydberg electron transfer

“…[1][2][3] Many of the characteristics of such states parallel those of Rydberg atoms in which one electron is excited to a state of large principal quantum number n and they are therefore frequently termed heavy-Rydberg states. The large reduced mass of the system, however, leads to a large increase in the effective Rydberg constant, given by R A = ͑ / m e ͒R ϱ , where m e is the electron mass and R ϱ is the Rydberg constant.…”

Probing dissociative electron attachment through heavy-Rydberg ion-pair production in Rydberg atom collisions

“…Since many of their properties parallel those of Rydberg atoms, such states are often termed as heavy-Rydberg states. [3][4][5][6][7] Rydberg atom collisions have been used to produce a wide variety of ion pair states for the study of their physical and chemical properties. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] We demonstrate here that the production of ion-pair states through dissociative electron transfer reactions of the type, K(12p) + ABC → K + + ABC − * → K + ..A − + BC (4) → K + ..BC − + A, (5) where K + ..A − and K + ..BC − denote ion pair states, can also be used to elucidate the dynamics of dissociative electron capture itself.…”

Spectroscopic Observation and Characterization of H+H− Heavy Rydberg States

“…21 It was postulated that heavy Rydberg systems follow the physical laws of electronic Rydberg systems and that each system can be described by a single mass-scaling parameter that defines all properties of heavy Rydberg states. This was tested and quantitatively demonstrated in detecting wave packet dynamics in the H + F -system, 22 which has a reduced mass differing by a factor of 2 from the H + H -system.…”