A Fermi Degenerate Gas of Polar Molecules

Abstract

It has long been expected that quantum degenerate gases of molecules would open access to a wide range of phenomena in molecular and quantum sciences. However, the very complexity that makes ultracold molecules so enticing has made reaching degeneracy an outstanding experimental challenge over the past decade. We now report the production of a Fermi degenerate gas of ultracold polar molecules of potassium--rubidium (KRb). Through coherent adiabatic association in a deeply degenerate mixture of a rubidium Bose-Einstein condensate and a potassium Fermi gas, we produce molecules at temperatures below 0.3 times the Fermi temperature. We explore the properties of this reactive gas and demonstrate how degeneracy suppresses chemical reactions, making a long-lived degenerate gas of polar molecules a reality.