Ultracold Gas of NaLi Molecules in the Triplet Ground State

Ultracold gases of molecules allow us to study short-range chemical reactions, novel quantum phases, and quantum information processing. The NaLi molecule, the lightest bi-alkali molecule, in the triplet ground state has permanent electric and magnetic dipole moments and is predicted to have a small universal loss rate leading to long collisional lifetime. This enables us to investigate the complexity of chemical reactions by finding links to scattering theory. Also, with the aid of tunable long-range interactions between the molecules, we can explore the possibility of quantum simulation of many-body physics. We have previously achieved the long-lived triplet ground state molecules in an optical dipole trap through a two-step process: formation of Feshbach molecules and stimulated rapid adiabatic passage. We report results of recent studies with our triplet state molecules including the observation of long lifetime of the molecules in a longer wavelength optical dipole trap.