Ultralong-Range Rb-KRb Rydberg Molecules: Selected Aspects of Electronic Structure, Orientation and Alignment

TL;DR

This paper explores the electronic structure, orientation, and alignment of ultralong-range Rb-KRb Rydberg molecules, emphasizing their potential for understanding complex molecular interactions at large distances.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical analysis of the electronic potentials and the orientation properties of Rb-KRb Rydberg molecules, including realistic treatment of diatomic rotational motion.

Findings

Identification of adiabatic electronic potentials from Rb Rydberg manifolds.

Analysis of the orientation and alignment of KRb within the molecule.

Insights into the influence of Rydberg states on molecular structure.

Abstract

We investigate the structure and features of an ultralong-range triatomic Rydberg molecule formed by a Rb Rydberg atom and a KRb diatomic molecule. In our numerical description, we perform a realistic treatment of the internal rotational motion of the diatomic molecule, and take into account the Rb($n, l\ge 3$) Rydberg degenerate manifold and the energetically closest neighboring levels with principal quantum numbers $n'>n$ and orbital quantum number $l\le2$. We focus here on the adiabatic electronic potentials evolving from the Rb($n, l\ge 3$) and Rb($n=26, l=2$) manifolds. The directional properties of the KRb diatomic molecule within the Rb-KRb triatomic Rydberg molecule are also analyzed in detail.