15min:

MATT GRAU, HUANQIAN LOH, TYLER YAHN, RUSSELL STUTZ, JILA, NIST and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440; ROBERT W. FIELD, Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139; AND ERIC A. CORNELL, JILA, NIST and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440.

As a step towards measuring the electron electric dipole moment, we produce a sample of HfF⁺ using a two-color excitation. We promote HfF from X² _3/2 to an isotope and parity-selective intermediate state, and then to one of many highly perturbed Rydberg states from which it autoionizes to the vibrational ground state of HfF⁺. We measure the population of the rotational states of HfF⁺ using laser-induced fluorescence and find that only a small number of states are populated, with most of the population in J < 4. Additionally, we see a strong propensity for autoionization to preserve the parity of the molecule, with one parity populating even J levels and the other populating odd J. Using polarized light to prepare the Rydberg molecules in various orientations, and then probing the ion with LIF, we see that a polarization of m_J sublevels also survives autoionization.