Researchers at JILA, a joint institute of NIST and the University of Colorado Boulder, have developed a new method to create quantum gases of ultracold molecules. This breakthrough allows scientists to control long-distance molecular interactions, which could lead to new quantum technologies.
The new technique involves creating a dense gas of about 20,000 trapped potassium-rubidium molecules at extremely low temperatures. By applying an electric field, researchers can manipulate the molecular interactions and suppress chemical reactions that break up the molecules. This enables the creation of a quantum degenerate gas, where all molecules interact with each other.
The potential applications of ultracold molecular gases are vast, including quantum computing, simulations of quantum phenomena, and new precision measurement tools. The research was funded by NIST, DARPA, the Army Research Office, and the National Science Foundation.
The paper describing the work, “Dipolar evaporation of reactive molecules to below the Fermi temperature,” was published in Nature on December 9, 2020.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2020/12/new-jila-tools-turn-quantum-gases-ultracold-molecules
Keywords: Quantum, Ultracold, Degeneracy, Polar, Molecules
