FROM 1/R TO 1/R(2) POTENTIALS - ELECTRON-EXCHANGE BETWEEN RYDBERG ATOMS AND POLAR-MOLECULES

Several new molecular anions, in their dipole-bound ground states, have been created by charge exchange between polar molecules and laser-excited Rydberg atoms. Measurement of electron-binding energies, by means of electric field detachment, as function of known molecular dipole moments gives the first experimental estimation of the minimum molecular dipole required to bind an electron.