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arXiv:1608.03303 · Physical Review A

Controlling the rotational and hyperfine state of ultracold Rb 87 Cs 133 molecules

Philip D. Gregory, J. Aldegunde, Jeremy M. Hutson, Simon L. Cornish

Published Oct 28, 2016• 59 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate coherent control of the rotational and hyperfine state of ultracold, chemically stable $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}^{133}\mathrm{Cs}$ molecules with external microwave fields. We create a sample of $\ensuremath{\sim}2000$ molecules in the lowest hyperfine level of the rovibronic ground state $N=0$. We measure the transition frequencies to eight different hyperfine levels of the $N=1$ state at two magnetic fields $\ensuremath{\sim}23$ G apart. We determine accurate values of rotational and hyperfine coupling constants that agree well with previous calculations. We observe Rabi oscillations on each transition, allowing complete population transfer to a selected hyperfine level of $N=1$. Subsequent application of a second microwave pulse allows the transfer of molecules back to a different hyperfine level of $N=0$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.94.041403

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We demonstrate coherent microwave control of rotational and hyperfine states of trapped, ultracold, and chemically stable ^{23}Na^{40}K molecules. Starting with all molecules in the absolute rovibrational and hyperfine ground state, we study rotational transitions in combined magnetic and electric fields and explain the rich hyperfine structure. Following the transfer of the entire molecular ensemble into a single hyperfine level of the first rotationally excited state, J=1, we observe lifetimes of more than 3 s, comparable to those in the rovibrational ground state, J=0. Long-lived ensembles and full quantum state control are prerequisites for the use of ultracold molecules in quantum simulation, precision measurements, and quantum information processing.
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Coherence and Collisions in Ultracold 87^{87}87Rb133^{133}133Cs Molecules
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We explore coherent multi-photon processes in 87Rb133Cs molecules using 3-level lambda and ladder configurations of rotational and hyperfine states, and discuss their relevance to future applications in quantum computation and quantum simulation. In the lambda configuration, we demonstrate the driving of population between two hyperfine levels of the rotational ground state via a two-photon Raman transition. Such pairs of states may be used in the future as a quantum memory, and we measure a Ramsey coherence time for a superposition of these states of 58(9) ms. In the ladder configuration, we show that we can generate and coherently populate microwave dressed states via the observation of an Autler-Townes doublet. We demonstrate that we can control the strength of this dressing by varying the intensity of the microwave coupling field. Finally, we perform spectroscopy of the rotational states of 87Rb133Cs up to N = 6, highlighting the potential of ultracold molecules for quantum simulation in synthetic dimensions. By fitting the measured transition frequencies we determine a new value of the centrifugal distortion coefficient Dv = h × 207.3(2) Hz.
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