Project description
Innovative approach to controlling ultracold molecular reactions
Ultracold molecules hold immense potential for quantum technologies owing to their rich internal structures and tuneable interactions, which enable breakthroughs unattainable with atoms. However, lossy chemical reactions that occur at these ultracold temperatures hinder ultracold molecule application, limiting advancements such as achieving a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate. The ERC-funded LIRICO project plans to develop innovative solutions to address this, such as using a high-finesse optical cavity to manipulate these chemical reactions. By creating hybrid light-molecule states, called molecular polaritons, researchers can switch reactions on or off by adjusting molecule-cavity resonance. The proposed approach should enable unmatched control over reaction dynamics, paving the way for paradigm-shifting advancements in molecular quantum technologies and steering of molecular transformations.
Objective
Ultracold molecules are the next frontier of quantum technologies: their rich internal structure and tunable long-range interactions enable the exploration of new regimes, unattainable with atomic platforms. Achieving this control requires cooling to ultracold temperatures. However, ultracold molecular interactions are dominated by lossy chemical reactions. Chemical reactions hamper the quantum applications of molecular gases and our strategies to reach the ultracold temperature limit, including the realization of the holy grail of ultracold molecular physics: a Bose-Einstein Condensate of polar molecules. Recently, I successfully developed several shielding mechanisms to protect polar molecules from chemical reactions and exploited them to realize the first quantum degenerate Fermi gas of molecules by direct evaporation. In LIRICO, I will leverage on these previous results to control the chemical reactions of ultracold molecules and thus unlock the full potential of molecular quantum gases. A high-finesse optical cavity will be the fulcrum of LIRICO to tame chemical reactions. Strong light-molecule coupling will create new hybrid light-molecule states, so called molecular polaritons, that will display the ability to turn on-and-off a chemical reaction by simply controlling the molecule-cavity resonance. The addition of final-state sensitive detection methods, such as an ion-mass spectrometer, will allow to fully resolve the microscopic mechanisms that underpin ultracold reactions. I will steer the reaction dynamics at will and control the reaction product distribution with the cavity vacuum, thus realizing a paradigm-changing, fully quantum-mechanical catalysis method for controlling the transformation of molecular materials. Cavity-control of ultracold chemical reactions will open new avenues in the dissipation engineering of inelastic and out-of-equilibrium processes, which is crucial for the development of molecular quantum technologies.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences condensed matter physics quasiparticles
- natural sciences physical sciences quantum physics quantum field theory
- natural sciences chemical sciences catalysis
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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10117 Berlin
Germany
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