Individual Assembly of Two-Species Rydberg Molecules Using Optical Tweezers.

Guttridge, Alexander; Hepworth, Tom R; Ruttley, Daniel K; Durst, Aileen A T; Eiles, Matthew T; Cornish, Simon L

Abstract

We present a new approach to investigating Rydberg molecules by demonstrating the formation and characterization of individual Rb^{*}Cs Rydberg molecules using optical tweezers. By employing single-atom detection of Rb and Cs, we observe molecule formation via correlated loss of both species and study the formation dynamics with single-particle resolution. We control the interatomic distances by manipulating the relative wave function of atom pairs using the tweezer intensity, optimizing the coupling to molecular states and exploring the effect of the tweezer on these states. Additionally, we demonstrate molecule association with atoms trapped in separate tweezers, paving the way for state-selective assembly of polyatomic molecules. The observed binding energies, molecular alignment, and bond lengths are in good agreement with theory. Our approach is broadly applicable to Rydberg tweezer platforms, expanding the range of available molecular systems and enabling the integration of Rydberg molecules into existing quantum science platforms.

Citation

Guttridge, A., Hepworth, T. R., Ruttley, D. K., Durst, A. A. T., Eiles, M. T., & Cornish, S. L. (2025). Individual Assembly of Two-Species Rydberg Molecules Using Optical Tweezers. Physical Review Letters, 134(13), Article 133401. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.133401

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 13, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Apr 3, 2025
• Publication Date: Apr 4, 2025
• Deposit Date: May 29, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 29, 2025
• Journal: Physical review letters
• Print ISSN: 0031-9007
• Electronic ISSN: 1079-7114
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 134
• Issue: 13
• Article Number: 133401
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.133401
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3901451