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arXiv · 2012.09043

Coherent optical creation of a single molecule

Yichao Yu·Kenneth Wang·Jonathan D. Hood·Lewis R. B. Picard·Jessie T. Zhang·William B. Cairncross·Jeremy M. Hutson·Rosario Gonzalez-Ferez·Till Rosenband·Kang-Kuen Ni
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Abstract

We report coherent association of atoms into a single weakly bound NaCs molecule in an optical tweezer through an optical Raman transition. The Raman technique uses a deeply bound electronic excited intermediate state to achieve a large transition dipole moment while reducing photon scattering. Starting from two atoms in their relative motional ground state, we achieve an optical transfer efficiency of 69%. The molecules have a binding energy of 770.2MHz at 8.83(2)G. This technique does not rely on Feshbach resonances or narrow excited-state lines and may allow a wide range of molecular species to be assembled atom-by-atom.

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Yichao Yu, Kenneth Wang, Jonathan D. Hood, Lewis R. B. Picard, Jessie T. Zhang, William B. Cairncross, Jeremy M. Hutson, Rosario Gonzalez-Ferez, Till Rosenband, Kang-Kuen Ni. 2020-12-16. Coherent optical creation of a single molecule. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevx.11.031061

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