Internal diffraction dynamics of trilobite molecules

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 wavepacket 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 wavepacket. Furthermore, vibrational ground-states of the low angular momentum ultralong-range Rydberg molecules are found to be particularly suitable to prepare the relevant wavepackets. 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 testbed for the study of exaggerated quantum dynamical phenomena.