Manipulating molecules in Rydberg states for physical Chemistry

Abstract

Cold molecules are now at the forefront of research, allowing to explore cold chemistry, astrophysics, quantum computing and even fundamental physics. Extensions of methods used to cool atoms are now being applied to more and more complex molecules. Reaching cold temperatures (< 10 K) allows for example the study of quantum effects in chemical reactions.
I will present a method to manipulate the motion of atoms and molecules and ultimately trap them using highly excited electronic states, the Rydberg states, in which the outer electron is orbiting very far away from the charged core. We manipulate atoms and molecules excited to Rydberg states with electric fields thanks to their giant polarisability and long lifetime.
Rydberg states are also extraordinarily large (up to several µm, for an atom!), which means that collisions processes can be studied inside the orbit of the electron. The method is applied in our laboratory to study chemical reactions, in particular ion-molecule reactions, at temperatures relevant for astrochemistry (< 50 K) and out of reach of most of the other experimental techniques.

References

• doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201600828
• journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.14.011034