Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Science

Brief get-togethers between NaK and K

Jake Yeston

Published Jan 17, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Chemical Physics Cooling molecules to nanokelvin temperatures places them under the tightest quantum mechanical constraints. Studies in this intriguing regime have been limited to diatomics: Two cold atoms can be lured together into weakly associated Feshbach resonances, which lasers can then shift into a more stable molecular state. Yang et al. now report the observation of triatomic Feshbach resonances in ultracold collisions between potassium (K) atoms and sodium potassium (NaK) diatomics. The findings potentially set the stage for the preparation and study of ultracold triatomic molecules. Science , this issue p. [261][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aau5322

DOI
10.1126/science.363.6424.241-q

Related papers

Creation of an ultracold gas of triatomic molecules from an atom–diatomic molecule mixture

H. X. Yang, Jin Cao, Zhen Su +3 more

In recent years, there has been notable progress in the preparation and control of ultracold gases of diatomic molecules. The next experimental challenge is the production of ultracold polyatomic molecular gases. Here, we report the creation of an ultracold gas of 23 Na 40 K 2 triatomic molecules from a mixture of ground-state sodium-23–potassium-40 ( 23 Na 40 K) molecules and potassium-40 ( 40 K) atoms. The triatomic molecules were created by adiabatic magneto-association through an atom–diatomic molecule Feshbach resonance. We obtained clear evidence for the creation of triatomic molecules by directly detecting them using radio-frequency dissociation. Approximately 4000 triatomic molecules with a high-peak phase-space density of 0.05 could be created. The ultracold triatomic molecules can serve as a launchpad to probe the three-body potential energy surface and may be used to prepare quantum degenerate triatomic molecular gases.

Science•Dec 1, 2022•39 citations

Coaxing quantumness in a molecular gas

Jelena Stajic

Cold Molecules A dilute atomic gas cooled down to very cold temperatures can enter the so-called quantum degenerate regime, where quantum properties of the gas come to the fore. This regime has been achieved for both bosonic and fermionic atoms, but molecules, with their many internal states, present a special challenge. De Marco et al. cooled a bulk gas of fermionic potassium-rubidium molecules to quantum degeneracy (see the Perspective by Zelevinsky). The authors first cooled atomic potassium and rubidium gases separately, then bound them together into potassium-rubidium molecules, and finally brought the molecules down to their ground state. The density profile of the molecular gas revealed the system's quantum nature, which in turn kept the gas stable by suppressing chemical reactions. Science , this issue p. [853][1]; see also p. [820][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aau7230 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aav9149

Science•Feb 21, 2019•0 citations

Observation of Feshbach resonances between ultracold Na and Rb atoms

Fudong Wang, Dezhi Xiong, Xiaoke Li +2 more

We have successfully prepared an optically trapped ultracold mixture of ${}^{23}$Na and ${}^{87}$Rb atoms and studied their interspecies Feshbach resonances. Using two different spin combinations, several $s$- and $p$-wave resonances are identified by observing high inelastic losses and temperature increases for both species near resonant magnetic field values. The two $s$-wave resonances observed below 500 G between atoms in their lowest-energy levels are possible candidates for Feshbach molecule association. Our results are well characterized by a coupled-channel model which also refines the ground-state interaction potentials between ${}^{23}$Na and ${}^{87}$Rb. This work opens up the prospect for preparing ultracold ensembles of ground-state bosonic NaRb molecules which are chemically stable and can provide strong dipolar interactions.

arXiv:1303.0334•Physical Review A•May 30, 2013•52 citations

Non-Feshbach ultracold molecules

Yury Suleymanov

Ultracold Chemistry The formation of ultracold molecules has already had a profound impact on many research areas of physics. However, conventional methods of producing such molecules are attainable only for a limited number of systems or they suffer for strong dephasing. He et al. sought to pair atoms, through coupling of their spins, to the two-body relative motion mediated by the inherent polarization gradients in a strongly focused trapping laser. They report a successful assembly of an ultracold 87Rb-85Rb molecule in an optical tweezer and observed coherent, long-lived atom-molecule Rabi oscillations. They further demonstrate the full control of the internal and external degrees of freedom in the atom-molecule system. Science , this issue p. [331][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aba7468

Science•Oct 15, 2020•0 citations

Observation of Optically Induced Feshbach Resonances in Collisions of Cold Atoms

Fredrik K. Fatemi, K. M. Jones, Paul D. Lett

We have observed optically induced Feshbach resonances in a cold ( <1 mK) sodium vapor. The optical coupling of the ground and excited-state potentials changes the scattering properties of an ultracold gas in much the same way as recently observed magnetically induced Feshbach resonances, but allows for some experimental conveniences associated with using lasers. The scattering properties can be varied by changing either the intensity or the detuning of a laser tuned near a photoassociation transition to a molecular state in the dimer. In principle this method allows the scattering length of any atomic species to be altered. A simple model is used to fit the dispersive resonance line shapes.

Physical Review Letters•Nov 20, 2000•215 citations

Observation of Photoassociation Resonances in Ultracold Atom-Molecule Collisions

Jin Cao, Bo-Yuan Wang, H. X. Yang +5 more

We report on the observation of photoassociation resonances in ultracold collisions between ^{23}Na^{40}K molecules and ^{40}K atoms. We perform photoassociation in a long-wavelength optical dipole trap to form deeply bound triatomic molecules in electronically excited states. The atom-molecule Feshbach resonance is used to enhance the free-bound Franck-Condon overlap. The photoassociation into well-defined quantum states of excited triatomic molecules is identified by observing resonantly enhanced loss features. These loss features depend on the polarization of the photoassociation lasers, allowing us to assign rotational quantum numbers. The observation of ultracold atom-molecule photoassociation resonances paves the way toward preparing ground-state triatomic molecules, provides a new high-resolution spectroscopy technique for polyatomic molecules, and is also important to atom-molecule Feshbach resonances.

arXiv:2307.15917•Physical Review Letters•Mar 1, 2024•17 citations
Chemical Physics
Cooling molecules to nanokelvin temperatures places them under the tightest quantum mechanical constraints. Studies in this intriguing regime have been limited to diatomics: Two cold atoms can be lured together into weakly associated Feshbach resonances, which lasers can then shift into a more stable molecular state. Yang et al. now report the observation of triatomic Feshbach resonances in ultracold collisions between potassium (K) atoms and sodium potassium (NaK) diatomics. The findings potentially set the stage for the preparation and study of ultracold triatomic molecules.
Science , this issue p. 261
In recent years, there has been notable progress in the preparation and control of ultracold gases of diatomic molecules. The next experimental challenge is the production of ultracold polyatomic molecular gases. Here, we report the creation of an ultracold gas of 23 Na 40 K 2 triatomic molecules from a mixture of ground-state sodium-23–potassium-40 ( 23 Na 40 K) molecules and potassium-40 ( 40 K) atoms. The triatomic molecules were created by adiabatic magneto-association through an atom–diatomic molecule Feshbach resonance. We obtained clear evidence for the creation of triatomic molecules by directly detecting them using radio-frequency dissociation. Approximately 4000 triatomic molecules with a high-peak phase-space density of 0.05 could be created. The ultracold triatomic molecules can serve as a launchpad to probe the three-body potential energy surface and may be used to prepare quantum degenerate triatomic molecular gases.
Cold Molecules A dilute atomic gas cooled down to very cold temperatures can enter the so-called quantum degenerate regime, where quantum properties of the gas come to the fore. This regime has been achieved for both bosonic and fermionic atoms, but molecules, with their many internal states, present a special challenge. De Marco et al. cooled a bulk gas of fermionic potassium-rubidium molecules to quantum degeneracy (see the Perspective by Zelevinsky). The authors first cooled atomic potassium and rubidium gases separately, then bound them together into potassium-rubidium molecules, and finally brought the molecules down to their ground state. The density profile of the molecular gas revealed the system's quantum nature, which in turn kept the gas stable by suppressing chemical reactions. Science , this issue p. [853][1]; see also p. [820][2] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aau7230 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aav9149
We have successfully prepared an optically trapped ultracold mixture of 23{}^{23}23Na and 87{}^{87}87Rb atoms and studied their interspecies Feshbach resonances. Using two different spin combinations, several sss- and ppp-wave resonances are identified by observing high inelastic losses and temperature increases for both species near resonant magnetic field values. The two sss-wave resonances observed below 500 G between atoms in their lowest-energy levels are possible candidates for Feshbach molecule association. Our results are well characterized by a coupled-channel model which also refines the ground-state interaction potentials between 23{}^{23}23Na and 87{}^{87}87Rb. This work opens up the prospect for preparing ultracold ensembles of ground-state bosonic NaRb molecules which are chemically stable and can provide strong dipolar interactions.
Ultracold Chemistry The formation of ultracold molecules has already had a profound impact on many research areas of physics. However, conventional methods of producing such molecules are attainable only for a limited number of systems or they suffer for strong dephasing. He et al. sought to pair atoms, through coupling of their spins, to the two-body relative motion mediated by the inherent polarization gradients in a strongly focused trapping laser. They report a successful assembly of an ultracold 87Rb-85Rb molecule in an optical tweezer and observed coherent, long-lived atom-molecule Rabi oscillations. They further demonstrate the full control of the internal and external degrees of freedom in the atom-molecule system. Science , this issue p. [331][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aba7468
We have observed optically induced Feshbach resonances in a cold ( <1 mK) sodium vapor. The optical coupling of the ground and excited-state potentials changes the scattering properties of an ultracold gas in much the same way as recently observed magnetically induced Feshbach resonances, but allows for some experimental conveniences associated with using lasers. The scattering properties can be varied by changing either the intensity or the detuning of a laser tuned near a photoassociation transition to a molecular state in the dimer. In principle this method allows the scattering length of any atomic species to be altered. A simple model is used to fit the dispersive resonance line shapes.
We report on the observation of photoassociation resonances in ultracold collisions between ^{23}Na^{40}K molecules and ^{40}K atoms. We perform photoassociation in a long-wavelength optical dipole trap to form deeply bound triatomic molecules in electronically excited states. The atom-molecule Feshbach resonance is used to enhance the free-bound Franck-Condon overlap. The photoassociation into well-defined quantum states of excited triatomic molecules is identified by observing resonantly enhanced loss features. These loss features depend on the polarization of the photoassociation lasers, allowing us to assign rotational quantum numbers. The observation of ultracold atom-molecule photoassociation resonances paves the way toward preparing ground-state triatomic molecules, provides a new high-resolution spectroscopy technique for polyatomic molecules, and is also important to atom-molecule Feshbach resonances.