Ultracold Polar Molecules

Silke Ospelkaus
JILA - University of Colorado

Ultracold Polar Molecules

Polar molecules - molecules exhibiting a permanet electric diplole 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, quantum phase transitions to novel systems for quantum electric fields. we will present our recent work on the creation of a near quantum degenerate gas of rovibrational ground state polar 40K87Rb molecules. Using a single step of two photon coherent transfer, we transfer weakly bound KRb molecules to the rovibrational ground state of the singlet electronic ground molecular potential. The polar molecules have a permanent electric dipole moment, which we measure with Stark spectroscopy to be 0.566 (17) Debye.