Landau-Zener transitions in frozen pairs of Rydberg atoms.
We have induced adiabatic transitions in pairs of frozen Rydberg sodium atoms of a supersonic beam. The diatomic ns+ns-->np+(n-1)p transition takes place in a time-dependent electric field and originates from the adiabatic change of the internal state of the pair induced by the dipole-dipole interaction. This is experimentally achieved by sweeping an electric field across the energy degeneracy ns ns-np(n-1)p. Our results fully agree with a two-level Landau-Zener model in the diatom system.
Saquet
Nicolas
N
Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS, Bâtiment 505, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay, France.
Cournol
Anne
A
Beugnon
Jérôme
J
Robert
Jacques
J
Pillet
Pierre
P
Vanhaecke
Nicolas
N