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

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.124.253401

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

Authors

Jessie T. Zhang

Yichao Yu

William B. Cairncross

Kenneth Wang

Lewis R. B. Picard

Jonathan D. Hood

Yen-Wei Lin

Professor Jeremy Hutson j.m.hutson@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Kang-Kuen Ni

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

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Copyright Statement
Reprinted with permission from the American Physical Society: 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 (2020). Forming a Single Molecule by Magnetoassociation in an Optical Tweezer. Physical Review Letters 124(25): 253401 © 2020 by the American Physical Society. Readers may view, browse, and/or download material for temporary copying purposes only, provided these uses are for noncommercial personal purposes. Except as provided by law, this material may not be further reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, adapted, performed, displayed, published, or sold in whole or part, without prior written permission from the American Physical Society.