Trimer liquids and crystals of polar molecules in coupled wires

TL;DR

This paper explores how polar molecules in coupled wires can form stable trimer liquids and crystals, revealing new quantum phases that could be realized experimentally with current technology.

Contribution

It demonstrates the stabilization of molecular dimers and trimers in ladder geometries using analytical and numerical methods, introducing novel quantum phases of composite particles.

Findings

Stable trimer and dimer liquids identified

Crystalline phases of composite bosons and fermions realized

Experimental conditions for observing these phases outlined

Abstract

We investigate the pairing and crystalline instabilities of bosonic and fermionic polar molecules confined to a ladder geometry. By means of analytical and quasi-exact numerical techniques, we show that gases of composite molecular dimers as well as trimers can be stabilized as a function of the density difference between the wires. A shallow optical lattice can pin both liquids, realizing crystals of composite bosons or fermions. We show that these exotic quantum phases should be realizable under current experimental conditions in finite-size confining potentials.