A two-dimensional ultracold gas of fermionic polar LiCs molecules

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The aim of this project is to produce a dipolar quantum gas of fermionic LiCs molecules to study few- and many-body effects under the influence of long-range dipolar interaction. LiCs features a dipole moment of 5.5 Debye in the rovibrational ground state. Such a large dipole moment is ideally suited to explore the effects of strong dipolar interactions, as occurring for example in dipolar crystals, spin models, and super solid phases. In order to investigate these phenomena, the gas of fermionic polar molecules will be stabilized against inelastic collisional loss by optically confining it in a 2D geometry allowing for the control over the few-body chemical reactions and for the development of a comprehensive understanding of the underlying few-body collisional processes. The creation of the ultracold molecules is based on the production of weakly bound Feshbach molecules in a double-degenerate mixed atomic gas of 6Li and 133Cs in an optical dipole trap and subsequent STIRAP to the rovibrational ground state. The dipolar interaction will be controlled by microwave electric fields. In the course of this research program we will develop strategies for an increase of the phase space density by evaporative cooling of polar molecules. The combination of a stabilized gas of polar molecules and strong dipolar interaction energy makes it possible to explore the dipolar quantum gas under equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium conditions.