Assembly of a rovibrational ground state molecule in an optical tweezer

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful creation of a single NaCs molecule in its rovibrational ground state within an optical tweezer, demonstrating long lifetime and quantum control, advancing quantum simulation and information processing.

Contribution

It presents the first coherent assembly of a rovibrational ground state molecule in an optical tweezer with long lifetime and precise quantum state control.

Findings

Achieved coherent transfer to rovibronic ground state with Rabi oscillations.

Measured a molecule lifetime of approximately 3.4 seconds.

Demonstrated large dipole moment of 4.6 Debye in the ground state.

Abstract

We demonstrate the coherent creation of a single NaCs molecule in its rotational, vibrational, and electronic (rovibronic) ground state in an optical tweezer. Starting with a weakly bound Feshbach molecule, we locate a two-photon transition via the $|{c^3\Sigma,v'=26}\rangle$ excited state and drive coherent Rabi oscillations between the Feshbach state and a single hyperfine level of the NaCs rovibronic ground state $|{X^1\Sigma,v''=0,N''=0}\rangle$ with a binding energy of $D_0 = h \times 147038.30(2)$ GHz. We measure a lifetime of $3.4\pm1.6$ s for the rovibronic ground-state molecule, which possesses a large molecule-frame dipole moment of 4.6 Debye and occupies predominantly the motional ground state. These long-lived, fully quantum-state-controlled individual dipolar molecules provide a key resource for molecule-based quantum simulation and information processing.