Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 65: Ultracold Molecules II (gemeinsam mit Q)

MO 65.1: Group Report

Friday, March 23, 2007, 14:00–14:30, 6J

A Mott-like State of Molecules — •Stephan Dürr, Thomas Volz, Niels Syassen, Dominik Bauer, Eberhard Hansis, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Straße 1, 85748 Garching, Germany

Mott insulators of ultracold gases in optical lattices bear a great potential for applications in quantum simulations and quantum information processing, in particular when using particles with a long-range dipole-dipole interaction, such as polar molecules. Here we show the realization of a Mott-like state of molecules. The molecules are produced from an atomic Mott insulator with a density profile chosen such that the central region of the gas contains two atoms per lattice site. A Feshbach resonance is used to associate the atom pairs to molecules. Remaining atoms can be removed with blast light. In order to show that the resulting state has exactly one molecule per lattice site, the molecules are dissociated and the lattice depth is reduced. This restores phase coherence which is seen in time-of-flight images. Additional information is obtained from measurements of the excitation spectrum [1].

[1] T. Volz et al. Nature Physics 2, 692–695 (2006).