Exploring the Many-Body Dynamics Near a Conical Intersection with Trapped Rydberg Ions

Gambetta, Filippo M.; Zhang, Chi; Hennrich, Markus; Lesanovsky, Igor; Li, Weibin

Abstract

Conical intersections between electronic potential energy surfaces are paradigmatic for the study of nonadiabatic processes in the excited states of large molecules. However, since the corresponding dynamics occurs on a femtosecond timescale, their investigation remains challenging and requires ultrafast spectroscopy techniques. We demonstrate that trapped Rydberg ions are a platform to engineer conical intersections and to simulate their ensuing dynamics on larger length scales and timescales of the order of nanometers and microseconds, respectively; all this in a highly controllable system. Here, the shape of the potential energy surfaces and the position of the conical intersection can be tuned thanks to the interplay between the high polarizability and the strong dipolar exchange interactions of Rydberg ions. We study how the presence of a conical intersection affects both the nuclear and electronic dynamics demonstrating, in particular, how it results in the inhibition of the nuclear motion. These effects can be monitored in real time via a direct spectroscopic measurement of the electronic populations in a state-of-the-art experimental setup.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 12, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jun 11, 2021
• Publication Date: Jun 11, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jun 12, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 17, 2021
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 126
• Issue: 23
• Article Number: 233404
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.126.233404
• Keywords: General Physics and Astronomy
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5656722
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.233404