Ultracold molecules provide a powerful and versatile platform for quantum computing,simulation, and metrology applications. The cornerstone technique for generating these cold, dense samples of molecular gasses is the magneto-optical trap (MOT). Conventional molecular MOTs use red-detuned light, limiting them to relatively high temperatures and low densities, leading to small spatial overlap and low loading efficiency...

Platforms based on molecules manipulated using ‘optical tweezers’ might be able to perform complex physics calculations. Physicists have taken the first step towards building quantum computers out of individual molecules trapped with laser devices called optical tweezers. Two teams report their results in Science on 7 December in both cases making pairs of calcium monofluoride...

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation awarded Professor Kang-Kuen Ni the 2023 New Horizons in Physics Prize for “the development of optical tweezer arrays to realize control of individual atoms for applications in quantum information science, metrology, and molecular physics.”

Molecular tweezer arrays provide a powerful and versatile platform for quantum computing and simulation applications. This is due to the long coherence time, strong dipole-dipole couplings between neighboring polar molecules, and single-site addressability in the system. Recently, by using the rotational states of single CaF molecules trapped in individual tweezers as effective qubits, we have...

Ultracold molecules are a research frontier that builds upon the many successes of ultracold atoms in the study of quantum science. There has been much experimental effort dedicated to the realization of trapped gaseous samples of ultracold molecules. In fact, various research groups from around the world have successfully demonstrated methods to bring samples of...

One of the fundamental questions in the study of ultracold polar molecules is “what happens when two molecules collide at ultracold temperatures?” Knowing whether the molecules undergo chemical reactions, form long lived complexes, change internal state, or bounce off each other carries important implications which will guide future research directions. Our recent experiment explores this...

In a recent publication in PRL, we demonstrate the assembly of a single molecule with full quantum state control – including both internal and external states – starting from a single pair of atoms. Molecules, compared to their atom counterparts, generally possess a much richer internal structure and can interact with each other via long-range...

The Ni group’s “building a single molecule from a reservoir of two atoms” paper was a cover story of Science magazine in May 2018. It generated a lot of public fascinations and subsequent news stories.  A high school teacher from Japan contacted Professor Ni to arrange a lab tour and a short lecture to his...

To recognize and encourage outstanding research in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics by investigators who have held a Ph.D. for no more than 10 years prior to the nomination deadline. The prize consists of $10,000 and a certificate citing the contributions made by the recipient.

Visit the Ni group webpage.

Molecules are intrinsic coherent quantum system that have long been recognized as promising building blocks for quantum simulations, ideal natural laboratory to search for new physics, and a playground to answer fundamental questions in chemical reactions. Achieving full quantum control of molecules in bulk gases have been a forefront goal of the field that generally...

The 19th ICOLS conference takes place June 8-12 in Hokkaido, Japan, with CUA representation. Vladan Vuletic will report on a joint MIT-Harvard CUA experiment with Mikhail Lukin on switching of light with light using pulses containing only a few hundred photons. For a readable explanation of how to make light interact with light see the...

The 19th ICOLS conference takes place June 8-12 in Hokkaido, Japan, with CUA representation. Vladan Vuletic will report on a joint MIT-Harvard CUA experiment with Mikhail Lukin on switching of light with light using pulses containing only a few hundred photons. For a readable explanation of how to make light interact with light see the...

The 19th ICOLS conference takes place June 8-12 in Hokkaido, Japan, with CUA representation. Vladan Vuletic will report on a joint MIT-Harvard CUA experiment with Mikhail Lukin on switching of light with light using pulses containing only a few hundred photons. For a readable explanation of how to make light interact with light see the...