近日，德国汉堡大学的Rohan Srikumar与美国海军学院的Seth T. Rittenhouse合作并取得一项新进展。他们揭示了三叶虫分子的内部衍射动力学。相关研究成果已于2024年12月10日在国际知名学术期刊《物理评论A》上发表。

据悉 ，三叶虫分子是一种超长程里德伯分子，由一个高角动量里德伯电子与基态原子散射而形成。其独特的电子结构和高度振荡的势能曲线，支持着多种尚未探索的动态效应。

该研究团队运用绝热波包传播动力学的框架，分析了这些分子的振动运动，并观察到在适当的初始状态下，三叶虫势能起到了分子衍射光栅的作用。研究人员通过对散射势和相应散射波包的傅里叶分析，解释了所观察到的量子动力学效应。

此外，他们还发现低角动量超长程里德伯分子的振动基态，特别适合制备相关波包。因此，研究人员提出了一种时间分辨的泵浦-探测方案，旨在实现上述效应，并建议使用单个双原子里德伯分子，作为研究极端量子动力学现象的试验平台。

附：英文原文

Title: Internal diffraction dynamics of trilobite molecules

Author: Rohan Srikumar, Seth T. Rittenhouse, Peter Schmelcher

Issue&Volume: 2024/12/10

Abstract: Trilobite molecules are ultralong-range Rydberg molecules formed when a high angular momentum Rydberg electron scatters off of a ground-state atom. Their unique electronic structure and highly oscillatory potential energy curves support a rich variety of dynamical effects yet to be explored. We analyze the vibrational motion of these molecules using a framework of adiabatic wave-packet propagation dynamics and observe that for appropriate initial states, the trilobite potential acts as molecular diffraction grating. The quantum dynamic effects observed are explained using a Fourier analysis of the scattering potential and the associated scattered wave packet. Furthermore, vibrational ground states of the low angular momentum ultralong-range Rydberg molecules are found to be particularly suitable to prepare the relevant wave packets. Hence, we propose a time-resolved pump-probe scheme designed for the realization of the effect in question, and advertise the utilization of a single diatomic Rydberg molecule as a test bed for the study of exaggerated quantum dynamical phenomena.

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.110.062808

Source: https://journals.aps.org/pra/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevA.110.062808