Magnetic stabilization of a Rydberg quasimolecule in circular states
- School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332 (United States)
- Physics Department, 206 Allison Lab., Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849-5311 (United States)
An exact analytical classical solution for the electronic terms of circular Rydberg states (CRS) in the presence of a magnetic field B is obtained for two-Coulomb-center systems. The classical electronic terms are shown to be significantly affected by the magnetic field. In particular, a sufficiently strong magnetic field is shown to cause the appearance of CRS above the ionization threshold. These CRS are the classical molecular counterparts of the quantal atomic quasi-Landau levels (resonances). Study of the stability of the nuclear motion in this system reveals that the system in CRS is, in the absence of the magnetic field, not really a molecule, but only a quasimolecule with antibonding molecular orbitals. We also find that the magnetic field creates a deep minimum in one of the branches of the effective potential of the relative motion of the nuclei, and thereby stabilizes the nuclear motion. We have therefore shown that a magnetic field can transform the quasimolecule into a real, classically described molecule where one of the molecular orbitals becomes bonding. This result reveals a phenomenon--the magnetically controlled stabilization of the quasimolecules in CRS--which is appropriate for future experimental studies.
- OSTI ID:
- 20786734
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. A, Vol. 73, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.73.013405; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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