Assembly of a Rovibrational Ground State Molecule in an Optical Tweezer

We demonstrate the coherent creation of a single NaCs molecule in its rotational, vibrational, and electronic (rovibronic) ground state in an optical tweezer. Starting with a weakly bound Feshbach molecule, we locate a two-photon transition via the |c^{3}Σ_{1},v^{'}=26⟩ excited state and drive...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2021-03, Vol.126 (12), p.123402-123402, Article 123402
Main Authors: Cairncross, William B, Zhang, Jessie T, Picard, Lewis R B, Yu, Yichao, Wang, Kenneth, Ni, Kang-Kuen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Data processing
Dipole moments
Ground state
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We demonstrate the coherent creation of a single NaCs molecule in its rotational, vibrational, and electronic (rovibronic) ground state in an optical tweezer. Starting with a weakly bound Feshbach molecule, we locate a two-photon transition via the |c^{3}Σ_{1},v^{'}=26⟩ excited state and drive coherent Rabi oscillations between the Feshbach state and a single hyperfine level of the NaCs rovibronic ground state |X^{1}Σ,v^{''}=0,N^{''}=0⟩ with a binding energy of D_{0}=h×147044.63(11)  GHz. We measure a lifetime of 3.4±1.6  s for the rovibronic ground state molecule, which possesses a large molecule-frame dipole moment of 4.6D and occupies predominantly the motional ground state. These long-lived, fully quantum-state-controlled individual dipolar molecules provide a key resource for molecule-based quantum simulation and information processing.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.123402