BUECHLER
Title: Designing interactions in polar molecules: towards novel quantum phases
Abstract:
We study quantum degenerate polar molecules with large dipole moments. We
show that the internal structure of the polar molecules allows us to tune and
shape the long-range part of the interaction: we focus on a pure dipole-dipole
interaction, and a hard-sphere type interaction. The strength of the
long-range interaction easily exceeds the kinetic energy of the gas.
Then, the stability of
the system is guaranteed by a strong transverse trapping potential confining
the particles into two-dimensional planes. For typical experimental
parameters,
we find the the ground state is characterized by a crystalline phase, separated
from the superfluid phase via a quantum phase transition for a critical
interaction strength.