Assembly of a single rovibrational ground-state molecule in an optical tweezer*

Gaining complete quantum state control over the external and internal degrees of freedom of single molecules has been a long-standing goal that will open the door to diverse studies in quantum information and quantum many-body physics. We have recently demonstrated the assembly of a single NaCs molecule in its rovibrational ground state in an optical tweezer from a pair of ground-state-cooled Na and Cs atoms [Cairncross, Zhang, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press)], with the resulting molecule occupying predominantly the motional ground state of the tweezer. I will discuss our determination of a suitable Raman transition from the Feshbach molecular state to the rovibrational ground state, the coherent optical transfer between these states, and our first studies of the ground-state molecules.