Synthetic dimensions with ultracold RbCs in a molecular microscope

Talk

An important advance in quantum simulation of many-body systems with ultracold atoms has been the development of quantum gas microscopes, with single particle detection and manipulation. Applying these techniques to ultracold molecules allows for the study of a wider variety of models, including anisotropic Hamiltonians and many-body phases due to the molecules’ rich internal structure and their long-range dipolar interactions [1]. I will talk about our work that has resulted in spin-resolved detection of single ultracold molecules in an optical lattice, including the mapping of spin states to different atomic species, allowing for multi-state readout of the system [2]. I will further discuss our work towards realising the first synthetic dimension within the internal states of a molecule [3,4]. Synthetic dimensions involve using an internal degree of freedom of the system to simulate an extra spatial dimension. We utilise microwave pulses to couple multiple rotational levels preparing a one-dimensional synthetic lattice, realising the SSH (Su–Schrieffer–Heeger) model for up to 8 synthetic lattice sites. We leverage the exceptionally long lifetimes and coherence times afforded to us by molecules to accurately probe the topological phase transition present in this model and measure the edge state energy splitting with sub-Hertz precision.

[1] S. L. Cornish, M. R. Tarbutt, and K. R. A. Hazzard, Nat. Phys. 20, 730–740 (2024).
[2] J. M. Mortlock et al., Nat. Commun. 17, 518 (2026).
[3] B. Sundar, B. Gadway, and K. R. A. Hazzard, Sci. Rep. 8, 3422 (2018).
[4] A. P. Raghuram et al. arXiv:2604.00745 (2026).

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