Abstract
We report on the creation of an ultracold dipolar gas of fermionic molecules in their absolute rovibrational and hyperfine ground state. Starting from weakly bound Feshbach molecules, we demonstrate hyperfine resolved two-photon transfer into the singlet ground state, coherently bridging a binding energy difference of 0.65 eV via stimulated rapid adiabatic passage. The spin-polarized, nearly quantum degenerate molecular gas displays a lifetime longer than 2.5 s, highlighting NaK’s stability against two-body chemical reactions. A homogeneous electric field is applied to induce a dipole moment of up to 0.8 D. With these advances, the exploration of many-body physics with strongly dipolar Fermi gases of molecules is within experimental reach.
- Received 2 May 2015
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.205302
© 2015 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Dipolar Gas Chilled to Near Zero
Published 18 May 2015
The cooling of strongly dipolar molecules to their absolute ground state has opened the possibility of creating new forms of matter.
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