Progress Towards an Analog Quantum Simulator of Potassium Silver Molecules

Ultracold quantum gas experiments have emerged as a leading platform to test theoretical models and improve our understanding of many-body quantum phenomena. Recently, such experiments have been utilizing polar molecules because their rich internal degrees of freedom, tunable interactions, and long coherence times make them excellent platforms for simulating quantum magnetism and Hubbard physics. Potassium silver (KAg) is a particularly exciting molecule for such experiments due to its large 8.5 Debye dipole moment. This promises stronger interactions than experiments with bi-alkali molecules, enabling the study of many-body physics in this novel regime. Creating KAg molecules involves achieving co-trapping of both atomic species, adiabatic transfer into a weakly bound Feshbach molecule, and a final transfer to the molecular ground state via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. We report on experimental progress, including optical trapping of K atoms, and ongoing efforts towards a dual-species magneto-optical trap of K and Ag atoms.