Towards Chemically Stable Fermionic Ground State Molecules with Strong Dipolar Interactions
POSTER
Abstract
Quantum gases with dipolar interactions will open new avenues for the creation of novel quantum many-body systems with intriguing properties, ranging from crystalline over magnetic to topological phases. A promising route for the experimental realization of dipolar quantum gases is the formation of fermionic ground-state molecules with a large electric dipole moment, giving rise to long-range anisotropic interactions. With our experiment we work towards the realization of fermionic ground state molecules of $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K. The NaK ground state molecule is chemically stable and possesses a large induced electric dipole moment of 2.72 Debye. In pioneering studies, we have created nearly degenerate samples of weakly bound $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K Feshbach molecules. With a long lifetime and a significant admixture of the electronic spin singlet state, the Feshbach molecules are an ideal starting point to reach the singlet rovibrational ground state with a two-photon STIRAP transfer. Aiming for an efficient transfer path, we have performed spectroscopic studies on excited and ground state molecular potentials of $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K and will report on our current progress.
*This work was supported by the NSF, AFOSR-MURI and -PECASE, ARO-MURI, ONR YIP, DARPA YFA, a grant from the Army Research Office with funding from the DARPA OLE program and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.