Abstract
In rubidium Rydberg states, the collision is nearly resonant in the vicinity of . As a result, over a short range of centered around the Rydberg-Rydberg interaction potential is quite large and turns from repulsive to attractive [Phys. Rev. A 75, 032712 (2007)]. We use state-selective field ionization to investigate the effect of this resonance on instantaneous excitation of mixed two-particle states, state-mixing collisions, and Penning ionization. We find that these processes depend on the magnitude and sign of the two-particle interaction potential, and thus on near the resonance. The large magnitude of the observed state mixing provides evidence for many-body effects.
- Received 27 August 2007
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.123007
©2008 American Physical Society