# Giant cross section for molecular ion formation in ultracold Rydberg gases

Source: [Giant cross section for molecular ion formation in ultracold Rydberg gases](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa363e1e209131ce8a820f>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-24T21:43:01.688Z

Authors: Thomas Niederpr\\"um, Oliver Thomas, Torsten Manthey, Tobias M. Weber, Herwig Ott

Published: 2015-03-05T09:37:15.000Z

## Abstract

We have studied the associative ionization of a Rydberg atom and a ground state atom in an ultracold Rydberg gas. The measured scattering cross section is three orders of magnitude larger than the geometrical size of the produced molecule. This giant enhancement of the reaction kinetics is due to an efficient directed mass transport which is mediated by the Rydberg electron. We also find that the total inelastic scattering cross section is given by the geometrical size of the Rydberg electron's wavefunction.

## Recorded benchmark results

A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage.

## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.01586>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/1503.01586.pdf>)