Production of Ultracold Weakly Bound Polar Molecules and Trapping of Ground State Noble Gases

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The research is aimed at developing a better physical understanding of how atoms and molecules interact with laser light at extremely cold temperatures- including the synthesis of very cold molecules from very cold atoms, high precision study of the structure of these molecules, and new techniques for reducing the temperature of these molecules even further once they are formed. While understanding these interactions is of fundamental scientific interest, the knowledge gleaned is also critical for developing the next generation of high-tech applications which are expected to yield significant advances in computing, communications, medicine, and fabrication of small-scale objects, for example. The research is also helping to lay the foundation for understanding chemical reactions at very cold temperatures where some of the counter-intuitive effects of quantum mechanics can be used to actually control chemical reactions in order produce desired reaction products which may be hard to produce by conventional techniques.In recent years, the frontiers of science have seen a blurring between traditional boundaries, and the realization of applications which find their way into everyday life has required scientists and engineers to work in a cross-disciplinary fashion. While the research program can be fairly characterized as "atomic and molecular physics", it also involves quantum chemistry and control and so contributes to the development of a growing interdisciplinary endeavor in addition to answering the very specific scientific questions posed. Furthermore, the research program makes a very significant contribution to human resource development. The training of highly skilled students who upon graduation are capable of tackling- in an interdisciplinary manner- a wide range of problems within science, technology, and society in general, provides a broad and immediate return on the federal investments made in the research.