Abstract
Coherence, the stability of the relative phase between quantum states, is central to quantum mechanics and its applications. For ultracold dipolar molecules at sub-microkelvin temperatures, internal states with robust coherence are predicted to offer rich prospects for quantum many-body physics and quantum information processing. 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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 372-375 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Science |
| Volume | 357 |
| Issue number | 6349 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Jul 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |