Rubidium Rydberg linear macrotrimers

TL;DR

This paper explores the existence of macrotrimer states formed by three rubidium Rydberg atoms aligned linearly, analyzing their potential energy surfaces and vibrational properties to suggest spectroscopic detectability.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of macrotrimers in rubidium Rydberg atoms and calculates their potential energy surfaces and vibrational spectra, revealing possible long-range bound states.

Findings

Existence of three-body long-range potential wells

Identification of vibrational eigenmodes and energy levels

Potential for spectroscopic detection of macrotrimers

Abstract

We investigate the interaction between three rubidium atoms in highly excited ($58p$) Rydberg states lying along a common axis and calculate the potential energy surfaces (PES) between the three atoms. We find that three-body long-range potential wells exist in some of these surfaces, indicating the existence of very extended bound states that we label \textit{macrotrimers}. We calculate the lowest vibrational eigenmodes and the resulting energy levels and show that the corresponding vibrational periods are rapid enough to be detected spectroscopically.