Ultracold Rydberg Atoms and Molecules

这一奖项是对小组资助的一部分的续展，该小组资助涉及几个研究项目，涉及超冷分子、光缔合光谱学和超冷里德堡原子和等离子体。这笔资金将继续进行超冷Rydberg项目。超冷里德堡气体和等离子体可以是强耦合系统。这导致了新的动力学行为，包括超冷等离子体和冷里德堡气体的相互转化，这构成了研究的一个焦点。PI还将专注于里德堡-里德堡相互作用本身的物理，特别是对新的分子相互作用的研究，如成对光缔合、超长距离“大二聚体”和由一个里德堡原子和一个基态原子组成的弱结合的“三叶虫”分子。非线性效应可以在低温里德堡气体中发挥异常显著的作用，因为它们的高密度加上对外场的极端敏感。PI将进行超辐射和超荧光研究，初步结果似乎显示出强烈的密度依赖效应。PI还将研究分子的里德堡态，而不是由里德堡原子组成的超长程分子。在更广泛的影响方面，该计划的组成部分将有助于将这项研究与研究生和本科教育相结合，包括定期小组会议、指导、研讨会、参与本科生研究经验(REU)计划、参与欧洲共同体冷分子研究培训网络(ECRTN)，以及许多合作。在这些组成部分中，调查员将继续寻求任职人数不足的群体的参与。

This award is a renewal of one portion of a group grant that involved several research projects involving ultracold molecules, photoassociative spectroscopy, and ultracold Rydberg atoms and plasmas. This funding will continue the ultracold Rydberg project. Ultracold Rydberg gases and plasmas can be strongly-coupled systems. This results in novel dynamical behavior, including interconversion of ultracold plasmas and cold Rydberg gases, that forms one focus of the research. The PI will also focus on the physics of the Rydberg-Rydberg interactions themselves, especially studies of novel molecular interactions such as pairwise photoassociation, ultra-long-range "macrodimers," and weakly bound "trilobite" molecules comprising one Rydberg atom and one ground-state atom. Nonlinear effects can play an unusually prominent role in cold Rydberg gases, because of their high density combined with their extreme sensitivity to external fields. The PI will undertake studies of superradiance and superfluorescence, building on preliminary results that appear to show strong density-dependent effects. The PI will also undertake studies of Rydberg states of molecules, as opposed to ultra-long-range molecules comprised of Rydberg atoms. On the broader impacts, components of the program that will serve to integrate this research with graduate and undergraduate education include regular group meetings, mentoring, workshops, participation in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, participation in the European Community Research Training Network (ECRTN) on Cold Molecules, and numerous collaborations. In these components the investigators will continue to seek participation of underrepresented groups.