Bose-Einstein Condensation of Dipolar Molecules
ORAL · Invited
Abstract
Achieving the quantum control of many-body systems with ever more complex constituents and interactions has been a driving force of AMO physics. Quantum degenerate gases of dipolar molecules are the latest frontier in this endeavor: rich molecular internal structures and long-range, anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions promise to revolutionize the field, from quantum simulation to quantum information.
Reaching the Bose-Einstein condensation of dipolar molecules has been an elusive goal for almost two decades. Here, I report on the first observation of this quantum state of matter and on the experimental journey that brought us to this breakthrough. In particular, I will focus on how we observed and understood strong two- and three-body losses and devised a technique to shape intermolecular potentials to stabilize dense molecular ensembles. With this level of quantum control we could evaporatively cool our sample to quantum degeneracy, reaching a BEC with a lifetime of 2 s. From this starting point, the tuning of dipolar interactions opens the door to the full study and employment of quantum degenerate samples of dipolar molecules.
Reaching the Bose-Einstein condensation of dipolar molecules has been an elusive goal for almost two decades. Here, I report on the first observation of this quantum state of matter and on the experimental journey that brought us to this breakthrough. In particular, I will focus on how we observed and understood strong two- and three-body losses and devised a technique to shape intermolecular potentials to stabilize dense molecular ensembles. With this level of quantum control we could evaporatively cool our sample to quantum degeneracy, reaching a BEC with a lifetime of 2 s. From this starting point, the tuning of dipolar interactions opens the door to the full study and employment of quantum degenerate samples of dipolar molecules.
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Publication: 1) Bigagli, N., Yuan, W., Zhang, S., Bulatovic, B., Karman, T., Stevenson, I., & Will, S. (2024). Observation of Bose–Einstein condensation of dipolar molecules. Nature, 631(8020), 289-293.<br>2) Bigagli, N., Warner, C., Yuan, W., Zhang, S., Stevenson, I., Karman, T., & Will, S. (2023). Collisionally stable gas of bosonic dipolar ground-state molecules. Nature Physics, 19(11), 1579-1584.
Presenters
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Niccolò Bigagli
Qunnect, Inc., Qunnect Inc.
Authors
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Niccolò Bigagli
Qunnect, Inc., Qunnect Inc.