Three-body problems: cold Rydberg atoms in Förster coupling, and double-Rydberg helium-like atoms

Seminar

Cold Rydberg atoms provide nice opportunities for considering physical three-body problems. Two different couplings between particles can be considered: the dipole-dipole interaction and the Coulomb interaction. In Förster Rydberg resonant couplings (in analogy with the Förster Resonance Transfer, FRET, in biology), two Rydberg atoms can exchange internal energy through long-range dipole-dipole interaction in a resonant way. Three- or more-body processes can also occur and can be isolated from the two-body ones. Ensembles of Rydberg atoms in a Borromean three-body Förster coupling can be studied with many implications in the understanding of the many-body problem, in the route for the formation of trimmers Rydberg molecules or Rydberg clusters and in many various domains from quantum physics to biology. An atom, with two highly excited electrons, or double-Rydberg helium-like atom corresponds to the old Coulomb three-body problem in atomic physics, but neither fully investigated nor understood. Planetary atoms with a very different excitation for each electron can be prepared in the isolated core-excitation, and high angular momentum states can prevent the autoionization. High-resolution laser spectroscopy of cold double-Rydberg atoms offers the opportunity for coming back on the double-Rydberg problem, for tackling fascinating questions in quantum chaos or in double-Rydberg scars with strong di-electronic correlation.

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