Final Report Summary - POLAR (Polar Molecules: From Ultracold Chemistry to Novel Quantum Phases)
The project POLAR aimed at the investigations of polar molecules at temperatures close to absolute zero where all Motion is frozen out of the system. It is in this regime that quantum statistics together with unconventional anisotropic interactions govern the motion of the particles and it is possible to investigate novel quantum many-body systems dominated by anisotropic interactions. The project has resulted in a novel dual species Bose-Einstein condensate of Na and K atoms and a novel approach to molecules composed out of one Na and one K atom. Novel ideas for imaging of molecules and direct laser cooling of a molecular beam have been developed.