Rydberg-State-Resolved Resonant Energy Transfer in Cold Electric-Field-Controlled Intrabeam Collisions of NH$_3$ with Rydberg He Atoms

The resonant transfer of energy from the inversion sublevels in NH$_3$ to He atoms in triplet Rydberg states with principal quantum number $n=38$ has been controlled using electric fields below 15 V/cm in intrabeam collisions at translational temperatures of $\sim1$ K. The experiments were performed in pulsed supersonic beams of NH$_3$ seeded in He at a ratio of 1:19. The He atoms were prepared in the metastable 1s2s $^3$S$_1$ level in a pulsed electric discharge in the trailing part of the beams. The velocity slip between the heavy NH$_3$ and the lighter metastable He was exploited to perform collision studies at center-of-mass collision speeds of $\sim70$ m/s. Resonant energy transfer in the atom-molecule collisions was identified by Rydberg-state-selective electric-field ionization. The experimental data have been compared to a theoretical model of the resonant dipole-dipole interactions between the collision partners based on the impact parameter method.

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