Effective anisotropic interaction potentials for pairs of ultracold molecules shielded by a static electric field

TL;DR

This paper derives simplified models for anisotropic interaction potentials between ultracold polar molecules shielded by static electric fields, highlighting differences from microwave shielding and implications for many-body physics.

Contribution

It introduces computationally efficient approximations for anisotropic potentials of molecules shielded by static fields, expanding understanding of their many-body behavior.

Findings

Derived new anisotropic potential models for static electric field shielding.

Showed these potentials differ significantly from microwave shielding cases.

Implications for many-body physics with ultracold polar molecules.

Abstract

Quantum gases of ultracold polar molecules have novel properties because of the strong dipolar forces between molecules. Current experiments shield the molecules from destructive collisions by engineering long-range repulsive interactions using microwave or static electric fields. These shielding methods produce interaction potentials with large repulsive cores that are not well described with contact potentials. In this paper we explore the anisotropic interaction potentials that arise for pairs of polar molecules shielded with static electric fields. We derive computationally inexpensive approximations for the potentials that are suitable for use in calculations of many-body properties. The interaction potentials for molecules shielded with static fields are substantially different from those that arise from microwave shielding and will produce quite different many-body physics.