Unusual Rydberg System Consisting of a Positively Charged Helium Nanodroplet with an Orbiting Electron

• Published in: Physical Review Letters (ISSN: 0031-9007), vol. 106, p. 083401
• American Physical Society, 2011

Evidence is presented of an unusual Rydberg system consisting of a helium nanodroplet containing a positively charged sodium ion and an orbiting electron. Rydberg states of this system with principal quantum number n<20 are found to be unstable on a nanosecond timescale. In contrast, Rydberg states with n≳100 are found to have a lifetime of 1.1 s. In addition, it is found that the ionization threshold of sodium doped helium is broadened and red-shifted with respect to that of the free atom. These observations are successfully reproduced using a pseudo-diatomic description of the system in which the interactions of the sodium and its ion with the helium are calculated as the sum of pair potentials.

Keywords: helium droplets ; Rydberg states ; spectroscopy ; dynamics ; potoionization ; ZEKE

Reference

• EPFL-ARTICLE-162383
• doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.083401
• View record in Web of Science

Record created on 2011-01-18, modified on 2012-03-21