Figure 1

(a) The $n=31$ BO potential energy curves for $M_J=\pm 1$ (solid curves) and $M_J=0$ (dashed curves) ${\mathrm{Cs}}_2$ Rydberg molecules in the vicinity of the $ns$ Rydberg threshold. Also shown are the low lying vibrational wave functions in the experimentally accessible region. The zero of energy is set to the appropriate $31s_{1/2}$ atomic Rydberg energy. (b) The experimentally observed spectra are shown in arbitrary units compared to the BO potentials. The line sticks give the positions of the predicted energies and relative transition strengths of the predissociating vibrational states. The two $M_J=\pm 1$ vibrational levels have calculated permanent dipole moments of 33.5 and 37.4 D, respectively. The inset is a blowup of the average of four spectral runs to show evidence for the $M_J=0$ line.Reuse & Permissions

Figure 2

(a) The BO potential energy curves for $M_J=\pm 1$ (solid curves) and $M_J=0$ (dashed curves) correlating to atomic Rydberg thresholds in the vicinity of the $\mathrm{Cs}(31s)$ state. Note that the avoided crossings of BO potential energy curves result in blueshifted potential wells, capable of supporting localized vibrational states with significant $s$ character. The $n=32–34$ BO potential energy curves for $M_J=\pm 1$ (solid curves) and $M_J=0$ (dashed curves) are displayed in (b)–(d) and the corresponding observed spectra are shown in (e)–(g), respectively. For detailed description of the features, see the caption for Fig. 1. The zero on the energy axis refers to the corresponding $\mathrm{Cs}(ns)$ threshold.Reuse & Permissions