Ultracold dipolar molecules

Abstract

The research field of ultracold atoms has expanded from atomic and molecular physics to a variety of fields. Ultracold polar molecules have long range and anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions, and similar to atoms, can also be conveniently manipulated by laser and other electromagnetic fields. Thus, ultracold molecules offer promising applications such as ultracold chemistry, quantum simulation, and quantum information. However, due to the difficulty in creating ultracold ground state molecules, expanding the horizon of ultracold physics from atoms to molecules is still under development. In the past decade, many research groups have successfully created bi-alkali rovibrational ground state polar molecules using magneto association and stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP). This paper presents a review of the recent progress including creating and manipulating ultracold molecules with this method, and the collision property of molecules at ultracold temperature.