Ultracold molecules in quantum arrays

At temperatures below about 1 microKelvin, atoms and molecules enter a new regime where all their motions, including translation, are fully quantal. This opens up possibilities of creating quantum devices from groups of interacting atoms and molecules, with important applications in quantum science and quantum technology (quantum simulators, computers, sensors, etc.). Over the last few years, the focus in this field has shifted from atoms to molecules, because the intrinsic dipole moments and richer structures of molecules open up new possibilities. The newest horizon in this field is to create configurable arrays of ultracold molecules in optical tweezers; each tweezer holds a molecule in space at the waist of a focussed laser beam, and the molecules can be moved around to make different shapes of array with different quantum properties.

The PhD student will work to understand the formation and properties of molecules in tweezers, and how full quantum control may be achieved with applied electric, magnetic and polarised laser fields. They will study how quantised translations interact with molecular rotations and spins. They will then move on to study the interactions between molecules in tweezer arrays, and how the quantum states may be entangled and controlled. Our goal is to implement quantum gates based on ultracold molecules, which can form building blocks for quantum simulators and quantum computers. This will lead to applications in quantum science and establish ultracold molecules as a new platform for quantum technology.