Quantum Correlations and Coherence of Polar Symmetric Top Molecules in Pendular States

Abstract

We consider two ultracold polar symmetric top molecules coupled by dipole-dipole interaction in an external electric field with appreciable intensity gradient, serving as the physical carrier of quantum information. Each molecule is induced to undergo pendular oscillations under the strong static electric field. Based on the pendular states of polar symmetric top molecules as candidate qubits, we investigate the bipartite quantum correlations of the two polar molecular system for the thermal equilibrium states, characterized by negativity and quantum discord, and then analyze the corresponding coherence, measured by relative entropy and l1 norm. Furthermore, we also examine the dynamics of the entanglement and coherence of the system in the presence of intrinsic decoherence, and explore the relations of their temporal evolution with various physical system parameters for two different initial Bell states. It is found that quantum correlations and coherence of the two polar molecules in pendular states can be manipulated by adjusting appropriate reduced variables including external electric field, dipole-dipole interaction, ambient temperature and decoherence factor. Our findings could be used for molecular quantum computing based on rotational states.