Forming a Single Molecule by Magnetoassociation in an Optical Tweezer

Zhang, Jessie T.; Yu, Yichao; Cairncross, William B.; Wang, Kenneth; Picard, Lewis R. B.; Hood, Jonathan D.; Lin, Yen-Wei; Hutson, Jeremy M.; Ni, Kang-Kuen

Abstract

We demonstrate the formation of a single NaCs molecule in an optical tweezer by magnetoassociation through an s-wave Feshbach resonance at 864.11(5) G. Starting from single atoms cooled to their motional ground states, we achieve conversion efficiencies of 47(1)%, and measure a molecular lifetime of 4.7(7) ms. By construction, the single molecules are predominantly [77(5)%] in the center-of-mass motional ground state of the tweezer. Furthermore, we produce a single p-wave molecule near 807 G by first preparing one of the atoms with one quantum of motional excitation. Our creation of a single weakly bound molecule in a designated internal state in the motional ground state of an optical tweezer is a crucial step towards coherent control of single molecules in optical tweezer arrays.

Citation

Zhang, J. T., Yu, Y., Cairncross, W. B., Wang, K., Picard, L. R., Hood, J. D., …Ni, K. (2020). Forming a Single Molecule by Magnetoassociation in an Optical Tweezer. Physical Review Letters, 124(25), Article 253401. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.124.253401

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 21, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jun 25, 2020
• Publication Date: Jun 26, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jul 9, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 9, 2020
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 124
• Issue: 25
• Article Number: 253401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.124.253401