On-demand entanglement of molecules in a reconfigurable optical tweezer array

Science. 2023 Dec 8;382(6675):1143-1147. doi: 10.1126/science.adf4272. Epub 2023 Dec 7.

Abstract

Entanglement is crucial to many quantum applications, including quantum information processing, quantum simulation, and quantum-enhanced sensing. Because of their rich internal structure and interactions, molecules have been proposed as a promising platform for quantum science. Deterministic entanglement of individually controlled molecules has nevertheless been a long-standing experimental challenge. We demonstrate on-demand entanglement of individually prepared molecules. Using the electric dipolar interaction between pairs of molecules prepared by using a reconfigurable optical tweezer array, we deterministically created Bell pairs of molecules. Our results demonstrate the key building blocks needed for quantum applications and may advance quantum-enhanced fundamental physics tests that use trapped molecules.