Dr. Ziv Meir
Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science
Ziv Meir / Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science
In the last two decades, we have witnessed tremendous advances in the control of quantum systems leading to what is known as “the 2nd quantum revolution”. Molecules, however, were considered for a long time too complicated for coherent and quantum control. The Nobel laureate, Arthur Schawlow, illustrated this concept in his famous quote, “A diatomic molecule is a molecule with one atom too many.” Nowadays, molecules are headed to the forefront of quantum research.
The increasing interest in molecules stems from their additional degrees of freedom, such as rotations, vibrations, and different isomers, that can be exploited for testing beyond-standard-model theories, encoding quantum information, studying ultracold chemistry, and realizing exotic quantum superpositions.
In this talk, I will describe the latest advances in coherent quantum control of trapped molecular ions using quantum-logic protocols emphasizing our experimental results from Basel in achieving >99% fidelity in the quantum-logic and quantum-nondemolition state detection of the nitrogen molecular ion’s electronic, vibration, and rotation ground state [1]. In addition, I will discuss the new avenues of molecular quantum research we plan to explore in our new lab at WIS.
[1] Sinhal, Meir, Najafian, Hegi, Willitsch, Science 367, 1213 (2020).