Vibrationally coupled Rydberg atom-ion molecules

TL;DR

This paper investigates the formation and stability of Rydberg atom-ion molecules in a hybrid system with an ion crystal, analyzing the effects of trap parameters and proposing control schemes for molecule formation.

Contribution

It provides a detailed Floquet analysis of RAIMs in a Paul trap and introduces a scheme to manipulate molecule formation using ion crystal motional modes.

Findings

RAIMs survive under weak, low-frequency trapping conditions

Proposed control scheme can suppress or enhance RAIM formation

Replaces traditional blockade radius with ion crystal length

Abstract

We study the occurrence of Rydberg atom-ion molecules (RAIMs) in a hybrid atom-ion system with an ion crystal trapped in a Paul trap coupled to Rydberg atoms on its either ends. To assess the feasibility of such a system, we perform a detailed Floquet analysis of the effect of the Paul trap's rf potential on the RAIMs and provide a qualitative analysis of the survival probability based on scaling laws. We conclude that the RAIM survives for sufficiently weak and low frequency traps. We then use this hybrid system and propose a scheme to utilise the common motional modes of the ion crystal to suppress (blockade) or enhance (anti-blockade) the probability of forming two RAIMs at the ends of the chain, replacing the typical blockade radius by the length of the ion crystal.