2021/02/08 by Frederic Hummel, Matthew T. Eiles, Peter Schmelcher
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Atomic physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Conical intersection #Conical surface #Dimension (graph theory) #Ionization #Materials science #Molecular spectroscopy and chirality #Molecule #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Rydberg formula #physics.atom-ph #physics.chem-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.127.023003
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 023003 (2021) · 5 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2021/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2021/07/09 · arxiv updated 2021/07/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We observe a series of conical intersections in the potential energy curves governing both the collision between a Rydberg atom and a ground-state atom and the structure of Rydberg molecules. By employing the electronic energy of the Rydberg atom as a synthetic dimension we circumvent the von Neumann-Wigner theorem. These conical intersections can occur when the Rydberg atom's quantum defect is similar in size to the electron-ground-state atom scattering phase shift divided by π, a condition satisfied in several commonly studied atomic species. The conical intersections have an observable consequence in the rate of ultracold l-changing collisions of the type Rb(nf)+Rb(5s)→Rb(nl>3)+Rb(5s). In the vicinity of a conical intersection, this rate is strongly suppressed, and the Rydberg atom becomes nearly transparent to the ground-state atom.