The latest breakthrough! For the first time, the University of Science and Technology of China synthesized triatomic molecules in an ultra-cold atomic molecular mixture

According to the official website of the University of Science and Technology of China, Pan Jianwei, Zhao Bo and others of the university cooperated with the Bai Chunli group of the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to achieve the coherent synthesis of triatomic molecules for the first time in the mixture of ultra-cold atoms and diatomic molecules. On February 10, this important research result was published in the international authoritative academic journal Nature.

Quantum computing and quantum simulation have powerful parallel computing and simulation capabilities, which can not only solve computational problems that classical computers cannot handle, but also effectively reveal the laws of complex physical systems, thereby providing guidance for new energy development and new material design. The use of highly controllable ultra-cold quantum gases to simulate complex and difficult-to-calculate physical systems allows for accurate and all-round study of complex systems, thus having a wide range of application prospects in chemical reactions and new material design.

Ultracold molecules will open up new ideas for quantum computing and provide an ideal platform for quantum simulations. However, due to the complexity of the vibrational rotational energy levels inside the molecules, it is very difficult to prepare ultracold molecules by direct cooling. The development of ultracold atom technology provides a new way to prepare ultracold molecules. One can bypass the difficulty of direct cooling molecules and synthesize molecules from ultracold atomic gas using lasers, electromagnetic fields, etc. Synthesizing triatomic molecules from a mixture of atoms and diatomic molecules is an important research direction in the field of synthetic molecules.

In 2019, a team of researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China observed for the first time the Feshbach resonance of atoms and diatomic molecules at ultra-low temperatures. Near the Feshbach resonance, the energies of the bound state of the triatomic molecules tend to coincide with the energy of the scattering state, while the coupling between the scattered and bound states is greatly enhanced by resonance. The successful observation of the resonance of atomic molecules Feshbach provides new opportunities for the synthesis of triatomic molecules.

In the new study, the researchers successfully realized for the first time the synthesis of triatomic molecules using radio frequency field coherence. Starting from an ultra-cold atomic mixture of near absolute zero, they prepared sodium-potassium ground-state molecules in a single ultra-fine state. Near the Feshbach resonance of potassium atoms and sodium-potassium molecules, the scattered states of atomic molecules and the bound states of triatomic molecules are coupled together by an RF field. In this way, they successfully observed the signal of the RF synthesis triatomic molecule on the RF loss spectrum of the sodium and potassium molecules and measured the binding energy of the triatomic molecules near the Feshbach resonance. This achievement opens up a new path for quantum simulation and the study of ultracool chemistry.

The research paper, titled "Evidence for the association of triatomic molecules in ultracold 23Na40K + 40K mixtures," has been published in Nature.

Forward-looking Economist APP Information Group

Original text: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04297-2

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