Polyatomic Molecules: The New Quantum Frontier

Gerhard Rempe
Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, 85748 Garching, Germany 

Molecules are quantum objects with unique properties like permanent electric dipole moments. This makes them a fascinating resource for a plethora of basic investigations and novel applications in emerging fields such as cold chemistry and quantum simulation. The generic pathway towards new quantum experiments is to prepare molecular samples that are simultaneously cold and dense for high phase-space density as well as slow for trapping. Implementation of the required control methods constitutes a challenging journey through science and technology, and has now resulted in a powerful toolbox that is “easy” to implement for a wide range of even polyatomic molecules [1-4]. The talk will discuss achievements and perspectives for new research. 

[1] Continuous centrifuge decelerator for polar molecules, S. Chervenkov et al., PRL 112, 013001 (2014).
[2] Rotational cooling of trapped polyatomic molecules, R. Glöckner et al., PRL 115, 233001 (2015).
[3] Optoelectrical cooling of polar molecules to submillikelvin temperatures, A. Prehn et al., PRL 116, 063005 (2016).
[4] A cryofuge for cold collision experiments with slow polar molecules, X. Wu et al., Science 358, 645 (2017).