Exploring the Roles of Nuclear Spins, Quantum Coherence, and Entanglement in Ultracold Chemistry

Coherence and entanglement are key features of quantum mechanics, although they are susceptible to environmental perturbations. A conventional strategy to entangle qubits with high fidelity is to leverage precisely controlled interactions while keeping qubits from decohering. By leveraging electric dipolar interactions, I will report entangling individual trapped NaCs molecules in optical tweezers and realizing a quantum logic gate with trapped molecules[1]. The bulk of the talk will try to go beyond this paradigm to explore and ask: Can coherence be preserved during chemical reactions and subsequently harnessed to produce entangled products? To address this question, we conduct investigations within the context of an atom-exchange chemical reaction (2KRb -> K2 + Rb2) at a temperature of 500nK[2]. I will share our research findings including surprises and puzzles.

Speaker: Kang-Kuen Ni, Harvard University