Exotic dipole traps for $^{23}$Na$^{40}$K molecules
POSTER
Abstract
Mixing rotational states of dipolar molecules is essential to utilize their dipolar interaction and to simulate spin systems. We use a rotational-state-sensitive electronic transition to create a highly-tunable optical dipole trap for NaK molecules. By tuning the trapping light over a range of 10 GHz we can switch between a 'magic' and two 'tune-out' conditions for the states $|v=0, J=0\rangle$ and $|v=0, J=1\rangle$, while maintaining molecule lifetimes of about $1$ s or longer [1]. Here, $v$ is the vibrational and $J$ the rotational quantum number of the electronic ground state. The transition can be used to achieve long coherence times in superpositions of rotational states and to realize novel cooling schemes in optical lattices. [1] R. Bause et al., arXiv:1912.10452.