Singlet Pathway to the Ground State of Ultracold Polar Molecules

A. Yang, S. Botsi, S. Kumar, S. B. Pal, M. M. Lam, I. Čepaitė, A. Laugharn, and K. Dieckmann
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 133203 – Published 1 April 2020
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Abstract

Starting from weakly bound Feshbach molecules, we demonstrate a two-photon pathway to the dipolar ground state of bi-alkali molecules that involves only singlet-to-singlet optical transitions. This pathway eliminates the search for a suitable intermediate state with sufficient singlet-triplet mixing and the exploration of its hyperfine structure, as is typical for pathways starting from triplet dominated Feshbach molecules. By selecting a Feshbach state with a stretched singlet hyperfine component and controlling the laser polarizations, we assure coupling to only single hyperfine components of the A1Σ+ excited potential and the X1Σ+ rovibrational ground state. In this way an ideal three level system is established, even if the hyperfine structure is not resolved. We demonstrate this pathway with Li6K40 molecules, and discuss its application to other important molecular species.

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  • Received 7 August 2019
  • Accepted 9 March 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.133203

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

A. Yang1, S. Botsi1, S. Kumar1, S. B. Pal1, M. M. Lam1, I. Čepaitė1, A. Laugharn1, and K. Dieckmann1,2,*

  • 1Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT), 3 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117543, Singapore
  • 2Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117542, Singapore

  • *phydk@nus.edu.sg

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Issue

Vol. 124, Iss. 13 — 3 April 2020

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