QUSTEC PhD Fellowship: Development of quantum technologies for molecular systems:quantum sensing of molecular and chemical properties

Following the resounding successes with atomic and solid-state systems, the development of quantum technologies for molecular systems has made rapid progress over the past few years. The experiments pursued rely on the entanglement of single molecular ions trapped together with single atomic ions. The atom serves the purpose of cooling the molecule and acting as a probe for the molecule by state readout through a suitable quantum protocol. These approaches have enabled the fully coherent manipulation of single isolated molecules thus opening up a wealth of exciting research directions in the molecular sciences. Experiments in this domain have so far focused on applications of this technology in molecular spectroscopy and precision measurements. In the present PhD project, we will harness state-preparation and readout methods recently developed in our group to probe for the first time collisional and chemical properties on the single-molecule level in a fully coherent manner. Specifically, we will prepare single molecules in well-defined quantum and motional states in an ion trap and monitor their collisions with other molecules. Changes of their quantum state, translational energy and chemical composition will be monitored in real time by readout of these properties using an entangled atomic ion. We expect that this new approach will provide new insights into molecular collisions, molecular energy transfer and chemical transformations at a level of detail which has not been attainable before. The project is highly interdisciplinary connecting the quantum sciences, molecular physics and chemistry in a new and original fashion.