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Updated: Oct 18, 2025

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Rotational Coherence Times of Polar Molecules in Optical Tweezers
Sean Burchesky1,2, Loïc Anderegg1,2, Yicheng Bao1,2
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
Qubit coherence times are critical to the performance of any robust quantum computing platform. For quantum information processing using arrays of polar molecules, a key performance parameter is the molecular rotational coherence time. We report a 93(7) ms coherence time for rotational state qubits of laser cooled CaF molecules in optical tweezer traps, over an order of magnitude longer than previous systems. Inhomogeneous broadening due to the differential polarizability between the qubit states is suppressed by tuning the tweezer polarization and applied magnetic field to a "magic" angle. The coherence time is limited by the residual differential polarizability, implying improvement with further cooling. A single spin-echo pulse is able to extend the coherence time to nearly half a second. The measured coherence times demonstrate the potential of polar molecules as high fidelity qubits.
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