A Protocol for Shielding-Enhanced Loading of Single Polar Molecules into Optical Tweezers
Authors:
Reuben R. W. Wang,
Christian H. Nunez,
Conner Williams,
Amanda Younes,
Li Du,
Hossein R. Sadeghpour,
Kang-Kuen Ni
Abstract:
We propose the high-fidelity preparation of single bosonic molecules in optical tweezers starting from small tweezer-trapped molecular ensembles. Our scheme combines a static electric field and a microwave field to generate strong, tunable, anisotropic interactions that shield the molecules against two-body collisional loss. We show that this shielding eliminates all long-range bound states, preve…
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We propose the high-fidelity preparation of single bosonic molecules in optical tweezers starting from small tweezer-trapped molecular ensembles. Our scheme combines a static electric field and a microwave field to generate strong, tunable, anisotropic interactions that shield the molecules against two-body collisional loss. We show that this shielding eliminates all long-range bound states, preventing three-body recombination. This elimination persists for all microwave ellipticities, including the experimentally practical limit of linear polarization. Application of an additional electric field gradient can be used to induce controlled spilling of strongly interacting molecules out of the trap until one remains. With realistic experimental parameters, we estimate that single tweezer-trapped NaCs molecules can be isolated from a pair with fidelities exceeding 99\%, and $> 95\%$ per site across an array. These results establish collisional shielding with electric fields as an effective tool for preparing highly-filled tweezer arrays of polar molecules.
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Submitted 20 August, 2026;
originally announced August 2026.