A directly laser cooled fermionic molecule based quantum simulator

Strongly correlated, long-range, many-body fermionic systems are at the core of many of the emergent phenomena seen in nature such as superconductivity, quantum magnetism, topological insulators, etc. Fermionic molecule-based quantum simulators offer all the key ingredients required to study such systems at the fundamental level. Recent progress has seen the quantum simulation toolkit extended to magnetic atoms and bi-alkali molecules, yet many challenges remain. At IUB, we are designing and building a quantum gas microscope based on the light fermionic molecule ²⁵MgF aimed at addressing the limitations posed by other platforms. The light mass, strong UV transition and fermionic isotopologue abundance of this molecular species makes it potentially easier to laser cool and trap. The ability to directly image this molecule at 359 nm allows for a tighter lattice spacing, increasing the dipolar interaction strength. Finally, a relatively simple hyperfine structure makes collisional shielding protocols possible. In parallel, we are also performing spectroscopy in the search of ideal polyatomic molecular candidates for a future parity violation experiment.