title: Giant Cross Section for Molecular Ion Formation in Ultracold Rydberg Gases.
abstract: We have studied the associative ionization of a Rydberg atom and a ground-state atom in an ultracold Rydberg gas. The measured scattering cross section is 3 orders of magnitude larger than the geometrical size of the produced molecule. This giant enhancement of the reaction kinetics is due to an efficient directed mass transport which is accelerated by the Rydberg electron. We also find that the total inelastic scattering cross section is given by the geometrical size of the Rydberg electron's wave function.
authors.affiliation: Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niederprüm
authors.affiliation: Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.|Graduate School Materials Science in Mainz, Staudinger Weg 9, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
authors.forename: Torsten
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Manthey
authors.affiliation: Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.affiliation: Research Center OPTIMAS, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
authors.forename: Herwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ott