Optical Lattice Clocks with Weakly Bound Molecules.

Area of Science:

• Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Precision Measurement
• Quantum Metrology

Background:

• Optical molecular clocks offer high sensitivity to variations in fundamental constants.
• The electron-to-proton mass ratio is a key parameter probed by these clocks.
• Exploring new molecular systems is crucial for advancing clock technology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel optical molecular clock using bosonic ^{174}Yb_{2} molecules.
• To investigate the feasibility of magnetically inducing the ^{1}S_{0}→^{3}P_{0} clock transition.
• To circumvent challenges associated with fermionic species and direct photoassociation.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing bosonic ^{174}Yb_{2} molecules to avoid hyperfine structure complications.
• Employing stimulated Raman adiabatic passage to create weakly bound ground state molecules.
• Calculating Franck-Condon factors and magnetic Rabi frequencies using recent scattering data.

Main Results:

• Identified suitable vibrational levels for the ^{1}S_{0}+^{3}P_{0} molecular states.
• Calculated Franck-Condon factors for clock transitions.
• Determined magnetically induced Rabi frequencies comparable to atomic clocks, indicating feasibility.

Conclusions:

• The proposed ^{174}Yb_{2} molecular clock is experimentally feasible.
• This work could lead to advancements in Hz-level molecular spectroscopy.
• Opens new avenues for probing fundamental physics beyond the standard model.