High-precision spectroscopy of ultracold molecules in an optical lattice

The study of ultracold molecules tightly trapped in an optical lattice can expand the frontier of precision measurement and spectroscopy, and provide a deeper insight into molecular and fundamental physics. Here we create, probe, and image microkelvin $^{88}$Sr$_2$ molecules in a lattice, and demonstrate precise measurements of molecular parameters as well as coherent control of molecular quantum states using optical fields. We discuss the sensitivity of the system to dimensional effects, a new bound-to-continuum spectroscopy technique for highly accurate binding energy measurements, and prospects for new physics with this rich experimental system.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Majorana: from atomic and molecular, to nuclear physics

In the centennial of Ettore Majorana's birth (1906-1938?), we re-examine some aspects of his fundamental scientific production in atomic and molecular physics, including a not well known short communication. There, Majorana critically discusses Fermi's solution of the celebrated Thomas-Fermi equation for electron screening in atoms and positive ions. We argue that some of Majorana's seminal contributions in molecular physics already prelude to the idea of exchange interactions (or Heisenberg-Majorana forces) in his later workson theoretical nuclear physics. In all his papers, he tended to emphasize the symmetries at the basis of a physical problem, as well as the limitations, rather than the advantages, of the approximations of the method employed.Comment: to appear in Found. Phy

Searching for New Physics Through AMO Precision Measurements

We briefly review recent experiments in atomic, molecular, and optical physics using precision measurements to search for physics beyond the Standard Model. We consider three main categories of experiments: searches for changes in fundamental constants, measurements of the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron, and searches for an electric dipole moment of the electron.Comment: Prepared for Comments on AMO Physics at Physica Script