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Rydberg matter is an exotic
phase of matter In the physical sciences, a phase is a region of space (a thermodynamic system), throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, index of refraction, magnetiza ...
formed by
Rydberg atom A Rydberg atom is an excited atom with one or more electrons that have a very high principal quantum number, ''n''. The higher the value of ''n'', the farther the electron is from the nucleus, on average. Rydberg atoms have a number of peculi ...
s; it was predicted around 1980 by É. A. Manykin, M. I. Ozhovan and P. P. Poluéktov. It has been formed from various elements like caesium,
potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...
,
hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic ...
and
nitrogen Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
; studies have been conducted on theoretical possibilities like
sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...
,
beryllium Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form m ...
,
magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...
and
calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar t ...
. It has been suggested to be a material that
diffuse interstellar band Diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) are absorption features seen in the spectra of astronomical objects in the Milky Way and other galaxies. They are caused by the absorption of light by the interstellar medium. Circa 500 bands have now been seen, ...
s may arise from. Circular Rydberg states, where the outermost electron is found in a planar circular orbit, are the most long-lived, with lifetimes of up to several hours, and are the most common.


Physical

Rydberg matter consists of usually hexagonal planar clusters; these cannot be very big because of the retardation effect caused by the finite velocity of the speed of light. Hence, they are not gases or plasmas; nor are they solids or liquids; they are most similar to
dusty plasma A dusty plasma is a plasma containing micrometer (10−6) to nanometer (10−9) sized particles suspended in it. Dust particles are charged and the plasma and particles behave as a plasma. Dust particles may form larger particles resulting in "gra ...
s with small clusters in a gas. Though Rydberg matter can be studied in the laboratory by laser probing, the largest cluster reported consists of only 91 atoms, but it has been shown to be behind extended clouds in space and the upper atmosphere of planets. Bonding in Rydberg matter is caused by
delocalisation In chemistry, delocalized electrons are electrons in a molecule, ion or solid metal that are not associated with a single atom or a covalent bond.IUPAC Gold Boo''delocalization''/ref> The term delocalization is general and can have slightly di ...
of the high-energy electrons to form an overall lower energy state. The way in which the electrons delocalise is to form standing waves on loops surrounding nuclei, creating quantised angular momentum and the defining characteristics of Rydberg matter. It is a generalised metal by way of the quantum numbers influencing loop size but restricted by the bonding requirement for strong electron correlation; it shows exchange-correlation properties similar to covalent bonding. Electronic excitation and vibrational motion of these bonds can be studied by Raman spectroscopy.


Lifetime

Due to reasons still debated by the physics community because of the lack of methods to observe clusters, Rydberg matter is highly stable against disintegration by emission of radiation; the characteristic lifetime of a cluster at ''n'' = 12 is 25 seconds. Reasons given include the lack of overlap between excited and ground states, the forbidding of transitions between them and exchange-correlation effects hindering emission through necessitating tunnelling that causes a long delay in excitation decay. translation: Excitation plays a role in determining lifetimes, with a higher excitation giving a longer lifetime; ''n'' = 80 gives a lifetime comparable to the age of the Universe.L. Holmlid, "Redshifts in space caused by stimulated Raman scattering in cold intergalactic Rydberg Matter with experimental verification". J. Exp. Theor. Phys. JETP 100 (2005) 637–644.


Excitations

In ordinary metals, interatomic distances are nearly constant through a wide range of temperatures and pressures; this is not the case with Rydberg matter, whose distances and thus properties vary greatly with excitations. A key variable in determining these properties is the principal quantum number ''n'' that can be any integer greater than 1; the highest values reported for it are around 100. Bond distance ''d'' in Rydberg matter is given by : d = 2.9 n^2 a_0, where ''a''0 is the
Bohr radius The Bohr radius (''a''0) is a physical constant, approximately equal to the most probable distance between the nucleus and the electron in a hydrogen atom in its ground state. It is named after Niels Bohr, due to its role in the Bohr model of an ...
. The approximate factor 2.9 was first experimentally determined, then measured with rotational spectroscopy in different clusters. Examples of ''d'' calculated this way, along with selected values of the density ''D'', are given in the adjacent table.


Condensation

Like
boson In particle physics, a boson ( ) is a subatomic particle whose spin quantum number has an integer value (0,1,2 ...). Bosons form one of the two fundamental classes of subatomic particle, the other being fermions, which have odd half-integer spi ...
s that can be condensed to form
Bose–Einstein condensate In condensed matter physics, a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that is typically formed when a gas of bosons at very low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero (−273.15 °C or −459.6 ...
s, Rydberg matter can be condensed, but not in the same way as bosons. The reason for this is that Rydberg matter behaves similarly to a gas, meaning that it cannot be condensed without removing the condensation energy; ionisation occurs if this is not done. All solutions to this problem so far involve using an adjacent surface in some way, the best being evaporating the atoms of which the Rydberg matter is to be formed from and leaving the condensation energy on the surface. Using caesium atoms, graphite-covered surfaces and
thermionic converter A thermionic converter consists of a hot electrode which thermionically emits electrons over a potential energy barrier to a cooler electrode, producing a useful electric power output. Caesium vapor is used to optimize the electrode work functi ...
s as containment, the
work function In solid-state physics, the work function (sometimes spelt workfunction) is the minimum thermodynamic work (i.e., energy) needed to remove an electron from a solid to a point in the vacuum immediately outside the solid surface. Here "immediately" ...
of the surface has been measured to be 0.5 eV, indicating that the cluster is between the ninth and fourteenth excitation levels.


See also

The overview Aasen, T.H., Zeiner-Gundersen, D.H., Zeiner-Gundersen, S. et al. A Condensed Excited (Rydberg) Matter: Perspective and Applications. J. Clust. Sci. (2021), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10876-021-02031-6 , 14 p. provides information on Rydberg matter and possible applications in developing clean energy, catalysts, researching space phenomena, and usage in sensors. *
State of matter In physics, a state of matter is one of the distinct forms in which matter can exist. Four states of matter are observable in everyday life: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Many intermediate states are known to exist, such as liquid crystal, ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rydberg Matter Condensed matter physics