Measuring cold molecules the quantum way

Abstract

Experimental advances in the production of cold molecules in the last years have triggered a flurry of theoretical work in fields as diverse as precision spectroscopy, controlled chemistry, fundamental physics, or quantum computation and simulation [1,2]. Progress on these lines naturally demands an increasing level of precision in the measurement and control of molecular states and properties. In this talk, I will present two of our recent contributions to this end. First, I will review some ideas and tools of cold atomic physics and quantum information that underlie our work. Then, I will introduce a quantum spectroscopy protocol for molecular ions based on their interaction with trapped atomic ions and phase gates [3]. After this, I will show how these ideas can be generalized to enable the measurement of a polar molecule's electric dipole moment [4]. Finally, I will discuss some of our ongoing work to use cold polar molecules for quantum simulation and quantum metrology.