Interaction-induced Dimension Reduction for Bound States in Microwave-Shielded Ultracold Molecules

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that ultracold molecules under microwave fields can be effectively described by 1D models, revealing a dimension reduction driven by interaction anisotropy, with implications for self-bound molecular arrays.

Contribution

It introduces an effective 1D modeling approach for complex 3D ultracold molecular systems influenced by microwave fields, highlighting a new mechanism for dimension reduction.

Findings

Effective 1D models accurately describe 3D bound states.

Interaction anisotropy causes dimension reduction without external confinement.

Potential for self-bound molecular arrays as ground states.

Abstract

We investigate tetratomic and hexatomic bound states of ultracold molecules dressed by an elliptic microwave field. We show that these bound states can be accurately described by effective one-dimensional (1D) models incorporating high-order angular fluctuations, despite the physical system is in three-dimensional (3D) free space. By comparing with exact solutions of the full 3D system, we identify the validity region of such 1D description in the parameter plane of ellipticity and coupling strength of microwave field. The hard-core character of these effective models enables a duality between bosonic and fermionic molecules in real and spectral space, while their momentum distributions remain distinct. Our results have demonstrated an effective dimension reduction in microwave-shielded molecular systems, which is purely due to the intrinsic interaction anisotropy rather than any external confinement. Extending to large systems, our results suggest a self-bound single-molecule array as the ground state of both bosonic and fermionic molecular gases.