2021/01/01 by Loïc Anderegg, Sean Burchesky, Yicheng Bao +6 · 11 citations
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Atomic physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Electromagnetic shielding #Electron #Engineering #Inelastic collision #Materials science #Microwave #Molecule #Nuclear physics #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Quantum mechanics #Ranging #Shielding effect #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #Telecommunications #Ultracold atom #cond-mat.quant-gas #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/science.abg9502
published in Science 373(6556), 779-782 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
arxiv created 2021/02/08 · openalex publication_date 2021/08/12 · arxiv updated 2021/08/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Harnessing the potential wide-ranging quantum science applications of molecules will require control of their interactions. Here, we used microwave radiation to directly engineer and tune the interaction potentials between ultracold calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules. By merging two optical tweezers, each containing a single molecule, we probed collisions in three dimensions. The correct combination of microwave frequency and power created an effective repulsive shield, which suppressed the inelastic loss rate by a factor of six, in agreement with theoretical calculations. The demonstrated microwave shielding shows a general route to the creation of long-lived, dense samples of ultracold polar molecules and evaporative cooling.