EGAS41 - Swansea University

41 st EGAS CP 119 Gdańsk 2009
Ultracold polar molecules
Silke Ospelkaus
JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Department
of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA
E-mail: silke.ospelkaus@jila.colorado.edu
Polar molecules – molecules exhibiting a permanent electric dipole moment – have bright
perspectives as systems with long-range and anisotropic interaction. These interactions
have been the basis for numerous exciting theoretical proposals ranging from ultra-cold
chemistry, precision measurements and quantum phase transitions to novel systems for
quantum control with external magnetic and electric fields. I will present our recent
work on the creation and characterization of a near-quantum degenerate gas of absolute
ground-state polar 40 K 87 Rb molecules.
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