title: Long-lived dipolar molecules and Feshbach molecules in a 3D optical lattice.
abstract: We have realized long-lived ground-state polar molecules in a 3D optical lattice, with a lifetime of up to 25 s, which is limited only by off-resonant scattering of the trapping light. Starting from a 2D optical lattice, we observe that the lifetime increases dramatically as a small lattice potential is added along the tube-shaped lattice traps. The 3D optical lattice also dramatically increases the lifetime for weakly bound Feshbach molecules. For a pure gas of Feshbach molecules, we observe a lifetime of greater than 20 s in a 3D optical lattice; this represents a 100-fold improvement over previous results. This lifetime is also limited by off-resonant scattering, the rate of which is related to the size of the Feshbach molecule. Individually trapped Feshbach molecules in the 3D lattice can be converted to pairs of K and Rb atoms and back with nearly 100% efficiency.
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA.
authors.forename: Amodsen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chotia
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Neyenhuis
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Moses
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Jacob P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Covey
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Foss-Feig
authors.forename: Ana Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rey
authors.forename: Deborah S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye