Confinement-induced field-linked states of ultracold polar molecules

TL;DR

This paper predicts stable, long-lived bound states of ultracold polar molecules induced by confinement and electric fields, enabling new explorations in quantum chemistry and superfluidity.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of confinement-induced field-linked states in ultracold molecules, with specific predictions for NaK-NaK fermions under experimental conditions.

Findings

Stable bound states predicted for NaK-NaK molecules.

Bound states observable as scattering resonances.

Lifetimes estimated to be tens of seconds.

Abstract

We predict the existence of stable bound states between pairs of ultracold diatomic molecules with the aid of a static electric field and 1D harmonic confinement. We focus on collisions of NaK-NaK identical fermions, for which we find that currently achievable experimental parameters allow the observation of these confinement-induced field-linked bound states as scattering resonances. The bound state is highly stable with lifetimes estimated to be tens of seconds long. With the diatomic molecules bound at distances a fraction of the dipolar length scale, these complexes allow for explorations of polyatomic chemistry and Fermi gas superfluid pairing.