Second-scale nuclear spin coherence time of ultracold 23Na40K molecules

We report the observation of stable coherence between nuclear spin states of ultracold fermionic sodium-potassium (NaK) molecules in the singlet rovibrational ground state. Ramsey spectroscopy reveals coherence times on the scale of 1 second; this enables high-resolution spectroscopy of the molecular gas. Collisional shifts are shown to be absent down to the 100-millihertz level. This work opens the door to the use of molecules as a versatile quantum memory and for precision measurements on dipolar quantum matter.

Source: ScienceNOW - July 27, 2017 Category: Science Authors: Park, J. W., Yan, Z. Z., Loh, H., Will, S. A., Zwierlein, M. W. Tags: Physics reports Source Type: news