Microwave Shielding of Ultracold Polar Molecules

Karman, Tijs; Hutson, Jeremy M.

Abstract

We use microwaves to engineer repulsive long-range interactions between ultracold polar molecules. The resulting shielding suppresses various loss mechanisms and provides large elastic cross sections. Hyperfine interactions limit the shielding under realistic conditions, but a magnetic field allows suppression of the losses to below 10 − 14     cm 3   s − 1 . The mechanism and optimum conditions for shielding differ substantially from those proposed by Gorshkov et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 073201 (2008)], and do not require cancellation of the long-range dipole-dipole interaction that is vital to many applications.

Citation

Karman, T., & Hutson, J. M. (2018). Microwave Shielding of Ultracold Polar Molecules. Physical Review Letters, 121(16), Article 163401. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.163401

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Oct 16, 2018
• Publication Date: Oct 16, 2018
• Deposit Date: Oct 17, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 18, 2018
• Journal: Physical Review Letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 121
• Issue: 16
• Article Number: 163401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.163401
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1345403
• Publisher URL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.163401