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Updated: Nov 9, 2025

Nanomanipulation of Single RNA Molecules by Optical Tweezers
Published on: August 20, 2014
Assembly of a Rovibrational Ground State Molecule in an Optical Tweezer
William B Cairncross1,2,3, Jessie T Zhang1,2,3, Lewis R B Picard1,2,3
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
We demonstrate the coherent creation of a single NaCs molecule in its rotational, vibrational, and electronic (rovibronic) ground state in an optical tweezer. Starting with a weakly bound Feshbach molecule, we locate a two-photon transition via the |c^{3}Σ_{1},v^{'}=26⟩ excited state and drive coherent Rabi oscillations between the Feshbach state and a single hyperfine level of the NaCs rovibronic ground state |X^{1}Σ,v^{''}=0,N^{''}=0⟩ with a binding energy of D_{0}=h×147044.63(11) GHz. We measure a lifetime of 3.4±1.6 s for the rovibronic ground state molecule, which possesses a large molecule-frame dipole moment of 4.6D and occupies predominantly the motional ground state. These long-lived, fully quantum-state-controlled individual dipolar molecules provide a key resource for molecule-based quantum simulation and information processing.
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