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Nature Physics

Quantum sensing and metrology for fundamental physics with molecules

David P. DeMille, Nicholas R. Hutzler, Ana María Rey, Tanya Zelevinsky

Published May 1, 2024• 137 citations
Publisher
DOI
10.1038/s41567-024-02499-9

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Polar molecules are a promising platform for quantum-enhanced sensing and precision tests of fundamental physics, owing to their strong long-range dipolar interactions, broad sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, and sensitivity to potential physics beyond the Standard Model. However, the creation of metrologically useful entangled states in molecular systems has remained elusive. Here, we report the first observation of a class of metrologically useful entangled states - spin-squeezed states - in polar CaF molecules trapped in an optical tweezer array. The spin degree of freedom is encoded in rotational levels which are directly coupled by dipolar exchange interactions. By harnessing appropriate dynamical decoupling schemes we observe up to 3.0(3)dB of metrological gain, (2.2(3)dB without measurement correction) from direct exchange interactions. Using Floquet engineering, we further realize richer Hamiltonians that preserve spin squeezing while enabling the development of longer-range quantum correlations. Using site- and spin-resolved measurements we demonstrate that these entangled states enhance sensitivity to both homogeneous and spatially varying fields, and reveal strong non-classical correlations, including bipartite entanglement and Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering. Finally, we transfer the spin-squeezed states into long-lived and non-interacting hyperfine states, where the metrological enhancement persists for up to 100ms. Our results establish molecular optical tweezer arrays as a scalable platform for generating, controlling, characterizing, and storing entangled states of molecules, opening new opportunities for quantum-enhanced sensing and precision tests of fundamental physics.
Clocks that are based on atomic and molecular transitions can serve as unparalleled sensors of fundamental phenomena. In particular, a clock based on vibrations in a diatomic molecule is a highly precise sensor of the interatomic force, including possible contributions from new physics. Such a clock is also of metrological interest, since vibrational states in homonuclear molecules have extremely long lifetimes. We present the technique of near-resonant magic-wavelength trapping for strontium dimers, which allows us to reach coherence times exceeding 100 ms for far-separated vibrational state superpositions. The development of the molecular clock is accelerated through state-of-the-art quantum chemistry work.
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