Bose-Einstein Condensation of Dipolar Molecules

Achieving the quantum control of many-body systems with ever more complex constituents and interactions has been a driving force of AMO physics. Quantum degenerate gases of dipolar molecules are the latest frontier in this endeavor: rich molecular internal structures and long-range, anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions promise to revolutionize the field, from quantum simulation to quantum information.

Reaching the Bose-Einstein condensation of dipolar molecules has been an elusive goal for almost two decades. Here, I report on the first observation of this quantum state of matter and on the experimental journey that brought us to this breakthrough. In particular, I will focus on how we observed and understood strong two- and three-body losses and devised a technique to shape intermolecular potentials to stabilize dense molecular ensembles. With this level of quantum control we could evaporatively cool our sample to quantum degeneracy, reaching a BEC with a lifetime of 2 s. From this starting point, the tuning of dipolar interactions opens the door to the full study and employment of quantum degenerate samples of dipolar molecules.