Preparation of a quantum state with one molecule at each site of an optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to prepare a quantum state with precisely one molecule at each site of an optical lattice, using atomic Mott insulators and Feshbach resonances, applicable to various systems.

Contribution

It introduces a universal technique for creating a one-molecule-per-site quantum state in optical lattices without depending on molecule-molecule interactions.

Findings

Successful creation of a one-molecule-per-site quantum state.

Technique is independent of specific molecule interaction properties.

Applicable to a wide range of molecular systems.

Abstract

Ultracold gases in optical lattices are of great interest, because these systems bear a great potential for applications in quantum simulations and quantum information processing, in particular when using particles with a long-range dipole-dipole interaction, such as polar molecules. Here we show the preparation of a quantum state with exactly one molecule at each site of an optical lattice. The molecules are produced from an atomic Mott insulator with a density profile chosen such that the central region of the gas contains two atoms per lattice site. A Feshbach resonance is used to associate the atom pairs to molecules. Remaining atoms can be removed with blast light. The technique does not rely on the molecule-molecule interaction properties and is therefore applicable to many systems.