Purely long-range polar molecules composed of identical lanthanide atoms

Hui Li (1, 2) , Goulven Quéméner (2) , Jean-François Wyart (3, 2) , Olivier Dulieu (2) , Maxence Lepers (4, 2)

1 Temple University [Philadelphia]
2 LAC - Laboratoire Aimé Cotton
3 LERMA (UMR_8112) - Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique
4 ICB - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot de Bourgogne

Doubly polar molecules, possessing an electric dipole moment and a magnetic dipole moment, can strongly couple to both an external electric field and a magnetic field, providing unique opportunities to exert full control of the system quantum state at ultracold temperatures. We propose a method for creating a purely long-range doubly polar homonuclear molecule from a pair of strongly magnetic lanthanide atoms, one atom being in its ground level and the other in a superposition of quasi-degenerate opposite-parity excited levels [Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 063201 (2018)]. The electric dipole moment is induced by coupling the excited levels with an external electric field. We derive the general expression of the long-range, Stark, and Zeeman interaction energies in the properly sym-metrized and fully-coupled basis describing the diatomic complex. Taking the example of holmium, our calculations predict shallow long-range wells in the potential energy curves that may support vibrational levels accessible by direct photoassociation from pairs of ground-level atoms.

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]; Chimie-Physique [physics.chem-ph]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Hui Li, Goulven Quéméner, Jean-François Wyart, Olivier Dulieu, Maxence Lepers. Purely long-range polar molecules composed of identical lanthanide atoms. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2019, 100 (4), pp.042711. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.100.042711⟩. ⟨hal-02263590⟩