Tuning interactions between static-field-shielded polar molecules with microwaves

TL;DR

This paper presents a method to tune interactions between static-field-shielded polar molecules using microwaves, enabling control over scattering properties while suppressing collisional losses, which enhances quantum simulation capabilities.

Contribution

The authors introduce a general approach to tune interactions of static-field-shielded molecules with microwaves, expanding control over scattering parameters beyond existing static-field methods.

Findings

Both s-wave scattering length and dipole length can be widely tuned.

Microwave parameters allow control while maintaining suppression of lossy collisions.

The method enhances interaction control in ultracold molecular gases.

Abstract

The ability to tune interparticle interactions is one of the main advantages of using ultracold quantum gases for quantum simulation of many-body physics. Current experiments with ultracold polar molecules employ shielding with microwave or static electric fields to prevent destructive collisional losses. The interaction potential of microwave-shielded molecules can be tuned by using microwaves of two different polarisations, while for static-field-shielded molecules the tunability of interactions is more limited and depends on the particular species. In this work, we propose a general method to tune the interactions between static-field-shielded molecules by applying a microwave field. We carry out coupled-channel scattering calculations in a field-dressed basis set to determine loss rate coefficients and scattering lengths. We find that both the s-wave scattering length and the dipole length can be widely tuned by changing the parameters of the microwave field, while maintaining strong suppression of lossy collisions.