Assembly of a single rovibrational ground-state molecule in an optical tweezer

ORAL

Abstract

Gaining complete quantum state control over the external and internal degrees of freedom of single molecules has been a long-standing goal that will open the door to diverse studies in quantum information and quantum many-body physics. We have recently demonstrated the assembly of a single NaCs molecule in its rovibrational ground state in an optical tweezer from a pair of ground-state-cooled Na and Cs atoms [Cairncross, Zhang, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press)], with the resulting molecule occupying predominantly the motional ground state of the tweezer. I will discuss our determination of a suitable Raman transition from the Feshbach molecular state to the rovibrational ground state, the coherent optical transfer between these states, and our first studies of the ground-state molecules.

*This work was supported by the NSF (PHY-1806595), the AFOSR (FA9550-19-1-0089), and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation (TC-18-003).

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Publication: William B. Cairncross*, Jessie T. Zhang*, Lewis R. B. Picard, Yichao Yu, Kenneth Wang, and Kang-Kuen Ni, arXiv:2101.03168, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press)

Presenters

  • William B Cairncross

    • Harvard University
    • Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Department of Physics, and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University

Authors

  • William B Cairncross

    • Harvard University
    • Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Department of Physics, and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University

  • Jessie Zhang

    • Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University

  • Lewis R Picard

    • Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University

  • Yichao Yu

    • Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University
    • Harvard University

  • Kenneth Wang

    • Harvard University
    • Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University

  • Kang-Kuen Ni

    • Harvard University
    • Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Department of Physics, and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University