Fine Control of Ultracold Polar Molecules

Fine Control of Ultracold Polar MoleculesThe ability to store molecules in reconfigurable optical traps could allow researchers to harness the rich physics of molecules in quantum applications.By Charles Day U ltracold atoms are a promising platform for quantum science.Molecules could be even better thanks to properties that atoms lack, such as polarity and the availability of rotational states.Now two independent groups have succeeded in filling one-dimensional arrays of optical traps with ultracold polar molecules assembled from ultracold atoms [1, 2].The groups also demonstrated that they could set, change, and read out the individual quantum states of the molecules.The feat may enable techniques developed for trapped atoms to be implemented with molecules, making the richer molecular physics available to new quantum applications.