title: Creation of a low-entropy quantum gas of polar molecules in an optical lattice.
abstract: Ultracold polar molecules, with their long-range electric dipolar interactions, offer a unique platform for studying correlated quantum many-body phenomena. However, realizing a highly degenerate quantum gas of molecules with a low entropy per particle is challenging. We report the synthesis of a low-entropy quantum gas of potassium-rubidium molecules (KRb) in a three-dimensional optical lattice. We simultaneously load into the optical lattice a Mott insulator of bosonic Rb atoms and a single-band insulator of fermionic K atoms. Then, using magnetoassociation and optical state transfer, we efficiently produce ground-state molecules in the lattice at those sites that contain one Rb and one K atom. The achieved filling fraction of 25% should enable future studies of transport and entanglement propagation in a many-body system with long-range dipolar interactions.
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Steven A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Moses
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Jacob P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Covey
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Miecnikowski
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
authors.forename: Bryce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gadway
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. ye@jila.colorado.edu jin@jilau1.colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA. ye@jila.colorado.edu jin@jilau1.colorado.edu.
authors.forename: Deborah S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Jin