The Department of Physics & AstronomyColloquiumThursday, April 1, 2010 4:00 pm Room 1-434

Jun Ye (National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado)

+Quantum gas of polar molecules

-The advent of a near quantum degenerate gas of ground-state polar mol-ecules opens the door to a wide range of scienti�c explorations. Novel molecular interactions, quantum-controlled chemical reactions, exotic phase transitions and strongly correlated states of matter are among a few prominent examples to be explored. Recent experimental progresses at JILA include the production of a high phase-space density gas of polar molecules in the absolute rovibrational ground state, coherent manipula-tions of the nuclear spin degree of freedom, and observations of barrier-less chemical reactions at ultralow temperatures. We control the reaction rates with pure long-range, quantum mechanical e�ects, achieving state-by-state analysis of reaction dynamics. Long-range and anisotropic dipolar interactions have been observed in the thermodynamics of the molecular gas and we control inelastic and elastic collision rates via the tuning of the molecular dipole moment.

Refreshments at 3:30 pm