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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Spatial Separation of Molecular Conformers and Clusters
Published on: January 9, 2014
Ultracold giant polyatomic Rydberg molecules: coherent control of molecular orientation
Seth T Rittenhouse1, H R Sadeghpour
1ITAMP, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. srittenhouse@cfa.harvard.edu
Abstract:
We predict the existence of a class of ultracold giant molecules formed from trapped ultracold Rydberg atoms and polar molecules. The interaction which leads to the formation of such molecules is the anisotropic, long-range charge-dipole interaction. We show that prominent candidate molecules such as deuterated hydroxyl (OD) and KRb should bind to Rydberg rubidium atoms, with energies E(b)≃5-25 GHz at distances R≃0.1-1 μm. These molecules form in double wells, mimicking chiral molecules, with each well containing a particular dipole orientation. We prepare a set of correlated dressed electron-dipole eigenstates which are used in an on-resonance Raman scheme to coherently control the molecular dipole orientation.
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