Quantum state control and precision spectroscopy of a single molecular ion

Precision molecular spectroscopy can lead to stringent tests of the Standard Model. The Ion Storage group at NIST is working on improving quantum state control and spectroscopic precision on single molecular ions. The project builds on advances in AMO physics over the past decades, including laser cooling and trapping techniques, frequency comb technology, and quantum-logic spectroscopy protocols, nowadays readily employed in cold-atom research and high-accuracy optical clocks. That enables demonstrations, on single molecular ions, of coherent quantum state manipulation [1], nondestructive state detection [1-3], rotational [4, 5] and vibrational [6] spectroscopy with better than part-per-trillion resolution, and quantum entanglement [7]. The group is exploring new opportunities in physics and chemistry offered by the rich structure and broad species selections in molecules that are compatible with quantum-logic spectroscopy protocols.

In collaboration with Alejandra Collopy, Yiheng Lin, Christoph Kurz, Michael E. Harding, Philipp N. Plessow, Tara Fortier, Scott Diddams, Yu Liu, Zhimin Liu, Julian Schmidt, Dalton Chaffee, Baruch Margulis, David R. Leibrandt, and Dietrich Leibfried.

References

[1] C. W. Chou, C. Kurz, D. B. Hume, P. N. Plessow, D. R. Leibrandt, and D. Leibfried, Nature 545, 203 (2017).

[2] F. Wolf, Y. Wan, J. C. Heip, F. Gebert, C. Shi, and Piet O. Schmidt, Nature 530, 457 (2016).

[3] M. Sinhal, Z. Meir, K. Najafian, G. Hegi, and S. Willitsch, Science 367, 1213 (2020).

[4] C. W. Chou, A. L. Collopy, C. Kurz, Y. Lin, M. E. Harding, P. N. Plessow, T. Fortier, S. Diddams, D. Leibfried, and D. R. Leibrandt, Science 367, 1458 (2020).

[5] A. L. Collopy, J. Schmidt, D. Leibfried, D. R. Leibrandt, and C. W. Chou, Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 223201 (2023).

[6] Y. Liu et al., in preparation.

[7] Y. Lin, D. R. Leibrandt, D. Leibfried, and C. W. Chou, Nature 581, 273 (2020).