Towards a Chip-Based Architecture for the Production and Study of Ultracold Molecular Ions

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This project seeks to develop techniques, amenable to microfabricated deployment (i.e. microchips), for manipulating and producing charged molecules at temperatures less than 1/1000 K. The ability to produce a sample of molecular ions at these temperatures should facilitate a number of scientific advances, including the study and possible control of chemistry in the quantum regime; a better understanding of charge transport; new probes of quantum matter; insights into the formation of interstellar clouds; and precision measurement of molecular transitions and structure for test of fundamental physics. Further, if these methods can be implemented in a microfabricated architecture, they may enable significant advances towards important technologies, such as chemistry-lab-on-a-chip devices envisioned for portable, high-throughput chemical sensing and the implementation of a robust, scalable quantum computation device.The broader impact of this work extends beyond the obvious effects of the new science and technology that may result, as currently four PhD students are being trained for careers in science and technology on this project. Further, this project involves a significant undergraduate research component aimed to increase and maintain enrollment of underrepresented groups in science and technology majors. An additional goal of the project is to leverage the fact that the involved techniques, such as lasers, are captivating to young students to facilitate outreach to and recruitment into STEM majors of local underrepresented groups.