• DOI:10.1039/D0CP03419C
• Corpus ID: 219401859

Nondestructive dispersive imaging of rotationally excited ultracold molecules.

@article{Guan2020NondestructiveDI,
  title={Nondestructive dispersive imaging of rotationally excited ultracold molecules.},
  author={Qingze Guan and Michael Highman and Eric J. Meier and G. R. J. Williams and V. W. Scarola and Brian Demarco and Svetlana Kotochigova and Bryce Gadway},
  journal={Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP},
  year={2020},
  volume={22 36},
  pages={
          20531-20544
        }
}

• Q. Guan, Michael Highman, +5 authors B. Gadway
• Published 5 June 2020
• Physics
• Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP

A barrier to realizing the potential of molecules for quantum information science applications is a lack of high-fidelity, single-molecule imaging techniques. Here, we present and theoretically analyze a general scheme for dispersive imaging of electronic ground-state molecules. Our technique relies on the intrinsic anisotropy of excited molecular rotational states to generate optical birefringence, which can be detected through polarization rotation of an off-resonant probe laser beam. Using 23Na87Rb and 87Rb133Cs as examples, we construct a formalism for choosing the molecular state to be imaged and the excited electronic states involved in off-resonant coupling. Our proposal establishes the relevant parameters for achieving degree-level polarization rotations for bulk molecular gases, thus enabling high-fidelity nondestructive imaging. We additionally outline requirements for the high-fidelity imaging of individually trapped molecules.