Rotational Rydberg states in polar molecules

Abstract

The molecular Rydberg states have more complicated structure than the atomic ones. The phenomenon is due to the rotational spectrum being characteristic of molecules unlike atoms. Inasmuch as the distance between rotational levels of the molecular core is comparable to the distance between high excited levels in the pure Coulomb field, rotational states mix with Rydberg ones and form rotational-Rydberg (ro-Ry) states.