Preparation and coherent manipulation of pure quantum states of a single molecular ion

ORAL

Abstract

We demonstrate control of individual molecules based on quantum-logic spectroscopy [1, 2]. In our experiment, we drive the motional sidebands of Raman transitions in a molecular ion and probe the secular motion with a co-trapped atomic ion. Detection of motional excitation projects the molecule into a pure internal state. The state of the molecule can subsequently be coherently manipulated, as demonstrated by Rabi oscillations between magnetic sublevels of rotational states. We need only one far off-resonant continuous-wave laser to manipulate the molecule. This makes our approach applicable to coherent control and precision measurement of a vast class of molecular ions.\\ \\ \mbox{[1]} C. W. Chou, submitted for publication, arXiv:1612.03926\\ \mbox{[2]} D. Leibfried, New J. Phys. \textbf{14}, 023029 (2012)

*This work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office and the NIST quantum information program. C. Kurz acknowledges support from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation.

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Authors

  • Christoph Kurz

    • Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA

  • Chin-wen Chou

    • Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA

  • David B. Hume

    • Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA

  • Philipp N. Plessow

    • Institute of Catalysis Research and Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

  • David R. Leibrandt

    • Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA

  • Dietrich Leibfried

    • Time and Frequency Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA