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arXiv · 2101.03168

Assembly of a rovibrational ground state molecule in an optical tweezer

William B. Cairncross·Jessie T. Zhang·Lewis R. B. Picard·Yichao Yu·Kenneth Wang·Kang-Kuen Ni
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Abstract

We demonstrate the coherent creation of a single NaCs molecule in its rotational, vibrational, and electronic (rovibronic) ground state in an optical tweezer. Starting with a weakly bound Feshbach molecule, we locate a two-photon transition via the $|{c^3\Sigma,v'=26}\rangle$ excited state and drive coherent Rabi oscillations between the Feshbach state and a single hyperfine level of the NaCs rovibronic ground state $|{X^1\Sigma,v''=0,N''=0}\rangle$ with a binding energy of $D_0 = h \times 147038.30(2)$ GHz. We measure a lifetime of $3.4\pm1.6$ s for the rovibronic ground-state molecule, which possesses a large molecule-frame dipole moment of 4.6 Debye and occupies predominantly the motional ground state. These long-lived, fully quantum-state-controlled individual dipolar molecules provide a key resource for molecule-based quantum simulation and information processing.

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William B. Cairncross, Jessie T. Zhang, Lewis R. B. Picard, Yichao Yu, Kenneth Wang, Kang-Kuen Ni. 2021-01-08. Assembly of a rovibrational ground state molecule in an optical tweezer. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.126.123402

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