Journal publications

Current Research

2024

[55] Probing critical phenomena in open quantum systems using atom arrays 
Fang Fang, Kenneth Wang, Vincent S. Liu, Yu Wang, Ryan Cimmino, Julia Wei, Marcus Bintz, Avery Parr, Jack Kemp, Kang-Kuen Ni, Norman Y. Yao

arXiv:2402.15376 (2024)

[54] Reaction Interferometry with Ultracold Molecules
Jeshurun Luke,  Lingbang Zhu, Yi-Xiang Liu, Kang-Kuen Ni

Faraday Discussions, 2024, DOI: 10.1039/D3FD00175J

[53] Site-selective preparation and multi-state readout of molecules in optical tweezers 
Lewis R. B. Picard, Gabriel E. Patenotte, Annie J. Park, Samuel F. Gebretsadkan, Kang-Kuen Ni
arXiv:2401.13659 (2024) 

2023

[52] Quantum interference and entanglement in ultracold atom-exchange reactions
Yi-Xiang Liu, Lingbang Zhu, Jeshurun Luke, J. J. Arfor Houwman, Mark C. Babin, Ming-Guang Hu, Kang-Kuen Ni
arXiv:2310.07620 (2023) 

[51] Raman sideband cooling of molecules in an optical tweezer array to the 3-D motional ground state 
Yicheng Bao, Scarlett S. Yu, Jiaqi You, Loïc Anderegg, Eunmi Chae, Wolfgang Ketterle, Kang-Kuen Ni, John M. Doyle
arXiv:2309.08706 (2023)

[50] Extended rotational coherence of polar molecules in an elliptically polarized trap
Annie J. Park*. Lewis R.B. Picard*, Gabriel E. Patenotte, Jessie T. Zhang, Till Rosenband, Kang-Kuen Ni
PRL 131, 183401 (2023) arXiv:2306.07264 (2023)

[49] High resolution photoassociation spectroscopy of the excited c3Σ+1 potential of 23Na133Cs
Lewis R. B. Picard, Jessie T. Zhang, William B. Cairncross, Kenneth Wang, Gabriel E. Patenotte, Annie J. Park, Yichao Yu, Lee R. Liu, Jonathan D. Hood, Rosario González-Férez, Kang-Kuen Ni
Phys. Rev. Research 5, 023149 (2023) arxiv.org/abs/2302.09113 (2023) 

2022

[48] Bimolecular chemistry in the ultracold regime
Yu Liu, Kang-Kuen Ni
Annual Review of Physical Chemistry 73:73-96 (2022) arXiv:2107.01088 (2021)

[47] Detection of long-lived complexes in ultracold atom-molecule collisions
Matthew A. Nichols, Yi-Xiang Liu, Lingbang Zhu, Ming-Guang Hu, Yu Liu, and Kang-Kuen Ni
Phys. Rev. X 12, 011029 (2022) arXiv:2105.14960 (2021)

[46] An Optical tweezer array of ground-state polar molecules
Jessie T. Zhang, Lewis R. B. Picard, William B. Cairncross, Kenneth Wang, Yichao Yu, Fang Fang, Kang-Kuen Ni
Quantum Sci. Technol. 7, 035006 (2022)  arXiv:2112.00991 (2021)

[45] Dipolar spin-exchange and entanglement between molecules in an optical tweezer array
Yicheng Bao, Scarlett S. Yu, Loïc Anderegg, Eunmi Chae, Wolfgang Ketterle, Kang-Kuen Ni, John M. Doyle
Science 382, 1138 (2023) arxiv.org/abs/2211.09780v1 (2022)

[44] Fast optical transport of ultracold molecules over long distances
Yicheng Bao, Scarlett S. Yu, Loïc Anderegg, Sean Burchesky, Derick Gonzalez-Acevedo, Eunmi Chae, Wolfgang Ketterle, Kang-Kuen Ni, John M. Doyle
New J. Phys. 24 093028 (2022) arxiv.org/abs/2205.06334  

[43] Enriching the quantum toolbox of ultracold molecules with Rydberg atoms
Kenneth Wang, Conner P. Williams, Lewis R. B. Picard, Norman Y. Yao, and Kang-Kuen Ni
PRX Quantum 3, 030339 (2022) arXiv:2204.05293 (2022)

2021

[42] Quantum science with optical tweezer arrays of ultracold atoms and molecules
Adam Kaufman and Kang-Kuen Ni
Nature Physics 17, 1324–1333 (2021) 

[41] Model for nuclear spin product-state distributions of ultracold chemical reactions in magnetic fields
Goulven Quéméner, Ming-Guang Hu, Yu Liu, Matthew A. Nichols, Lingbang Zhu, and Kang-Kuen Ni
Phys. Rev. A 201, 052817 (2021) arXiv:2111.01453 (2021)

[40] Rotational Coherence Times of Polar Molecules in Optical Tweezers 
Sean Burchesky, Loïc Anderegg, Yicheng Bao, Scarlett S Yu, Eunmi Chae, Wolfgang Ketterle, Kang-Kuen Ni, John M Doyle
Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 123202 (2021) arXiv:2105.15199 (2021)

[39] Observation of microwave shielding of ultracold molecules 
Loïc Anderegg, Sean Burchesky, Yicheng Bao, Scarlett S Yu, Tijs Karman, Eunmi Chae, Kang-Kuen Ni, Wolfgang Ketterle, John M Doyle
Science 373, 779 (2021) arXiv:2102.04365 (2021)

[38] Assembly of a rovibrational ground state molecule in an optical tweezer
William B. Cairncross*, Jessie T. Zhang*, Lewis R. B. Picard, Yichao Yu, Kenneth Wang, Kang-Kuen Ni
Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 123402 (2021) arXiv:2101.03168 (2021)
PRL Editor's suggestion

[37] Quantum Simulators: Architectures and Opportunities
Ehud Altman, Kenneth R. Brown, Giuseppe Carleo, Lincoln D. Carr, Eugene Demler, Cheng Chin, Brian DeMarco, Sophia E. Economou, Mark A. Eriksson, Kai-Mei C. Fu, Markus Greiner, Kaden R. A. Hazzard, Randall G. Hulet, Alicia J. Kollar, Benjamin L. Lev, Mikhail D. Lukin, Ruichao Ma, Xiao Mi, Shashank Misra, Christopher Monroe, Kater Murch, Zaira Nazario, Kang-Kuen Ni, Andrew C. Potter, Pedram Roushan, Mark Saffman, Monika Schleier-Smith, Irfan Siddiqi, Raymond Simmonds, Meenakshi Singh, I. B. Spielman, Kristan Temme, David S. Weiss, Jelena Vuckovic, Vladan Vuletic, Jun Ye, Martin Zwierlein
PRX Quantum 2, 017003 (2021) arxiv.org/abs/1912.06938

2020

[36] Precision test of statistical dynamics with state-to-state ultracold chemistry
Yu Liu*, Ming-Guang Hu*, Matthew A. Nichols, D. Yang, D. Xie, H. Guo, Kang-Kuen Ni 
Nature 593, 379-384 (2021) arXiv:2012.15842 (2020)
Featured in Harvard Gazette, Chemistry World, and Physics World

[35] Coherent optical creation of a single molecule
Yichao Yu*, Kenneth Wang*, Jonathan D. Hood, Lewis R. B. Picard, Jessie T. Zhang, William B. Cairncross, Jeremy M. Hutson, Rosario Gonzalez-Ferez, Till. Rosenband, Kang-Kuen Ni
Phys. Rev. X 11, 031061 (2021) arXiv:2012.09043 (2020)

[34] Reduction of laser intensity noise over 1 MHz band for single atom trapping 
Yu Wang, Kenneth Wang, Elliot Fenton, Yen-Wei Lin, Kang-Kuen Ni, and Jonathan D. Hood 
Optics Express 28, 31209-31215(2020)  arXiv:2008.03504(2020)

[33] Nuclear spin conservation enables state-to-state control of ultracold molecular reactions
Ming-Guang Hu*, Yu Liu*, Matthew A. Nichols, Lingbang Zhu, Goulven Quemener, Olivier Dulieu, and Kang-Kuen Ni 
Nature Chemistry 13, 435-440 (2021) arXiv:2005.10820 (2020)

[32] Forming a single molecule by magnetoassociation in an optical tweezer
Jessie T. Zhang, Yichao Yu, William B. Cairncross, Kenneth Wang, Lewis R. B. Picard, Jonathan D. Hood, Yen-wei Lin, Jeremy M. Hutson, Kang-Kuen Ni 
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 253401 (2020) arXiv:2003.07850(2020) 
PRL Editor's suggestion, featured in APS Physics and Physics World

[31] Photo-excitation of long-lived transient intermediates in ultracold reactions
Yu Liu*, Ming-Guang Hu*, Matthew A. Nichols, David D. Grimes, Tijs Karman, Hua Guo, Kang-Kuen Ni 
Nature Physics 16, 1132–1136 (2020)  arXiv:2002.05140 (2020) 
Featured in Scientific American

[30] Observation of Collisions between Two Ultracold Ground-State CaF Molecules
Lawrence W. Cheuk, Loïc Anderegg, Yicheng Bao, Sean Burchesky, Scarlett Yu, Wolfgang Ketterle, Kang-Kuen Ni, John M. Doyle 
Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 043401 (2020)  arXiv:2002.00048 (2020) 

2019

[29] Probing Ultracold Chemistry using Ion Spectrometry
Yu Liu*, David D. Grimes*, Ming-Guang Hu*, Kang-Kuen Ni 
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 22, 4861-4874 (2020) arXiv.1912.12741(2019) 

[28] Direct Observation of Bimolecular Reactions of Ultracold KRb Molecules
Ming-Guang Hu*, Yu Liu*, David D. Grimes, Yen-Wei Lin, Andrei H. Gheorghe, Romain Vexiau, Nadia Bouloufa-Maafa, Olivier Dulieu, Till Rosenband, and Kang-Kuen Ni 
Science 366, 1111 (2019) arXiv.1907.13628 (2019)
Featured in Physics Today, Harvard Gazette

[27] Multichannel interactions of two atoms in an optical tweezer 
Jonathan D. Hood, Yichao Yu, Yen-Wei Lin, Jessie T. Zhang, Kenneth Wang, Lee R. Liu, Bo Gao, and Kang-Kuen Ni. 
Phys. Rev. Research 2, 023108 (2020)  arXiv.1907.11226 (2019) 

[26] The Quest for Quantum Degeneracy
Kang-Kuen Ni 
Nature Physics 15, 523-528 (2019)

[25] Molecular Assembly of Ground State Cooled Single Atoms 
Lee R. Liu*, Jonathan D. Hood*, Yichao Yu*, Jessie T. Zhang, Kenneth Wang, Yen-Wei Lin, Till Rosenband, and Kang-Kuen Ni 
Phys. Rev. X 9, 021039 (2019) arXiv:1902.03935
Featured in APS Physics

[24] An Optical Tweezer Array of Ultracold Molecules 
Loic Anderegg, Lawrence W. Cheuk, Yicheng Bao, Sean Burchesky, Wolfgang Ketterle, Kang-Kuen Ni, and John M. Doyle 
Science 365, 1156 (2019) arXiv:1902.00497

2018

[23] Dipolar exchange quantum logic gate with polar molecules 
Kang-Kuen Ni, Till Rosenband, David D. Grimes 
Chemical Science 9, 6830 - 6838 (2018), DOI: 10.1039/C8SC02355G  https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.10930 

[22] Elliptical polarization for molecular Stark shift compensation in deep optical traps
Till Rosenband, David D. Grimes, Kang-Kuen Ni 
https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.01030  Optics Express 26, 19821-19825 (2018)

[21] Building one molecule from a reservoir of two atoms
Lee R. Liu, Jonathan D. Hood, Yichao Yu, Jessie T. Zhang, Nicholas R. Hutzler, Till Rosenband, Kang-Kuen Ni 
Science 360, 900 (2018);  arxiv:1804.04752
Science cover story and perspective. Featured in Physics World, CosmosHarvard Gazette

[20] Motional Ground State Cooling Outside the Lamb-Dickes Regime 
Yichao Yu, Nicholas R. Hutzler, Jessie T. Zhang, Lee R. Liu, Jonathan D. Hood, Till Rosenband, Kang-Kuen Ni 
Phys. Rev. A 97, 063423 (2018) arxiv.org:1708.03296

2016-2017

[19] Ultracold Molecular Assembly 
Lee R. Liu, Jessie T. Zhang, Yichao Yu, Nicholas R. Hutzler, Yu Liu, Till Rosenband, Kang-Kuen Ni   
arXiv:1701.03121(2017)

[***] Deborah S. Jin: Trailblazer of Ultracold Science 
In memory of our greatest mentor and friend 
PNAS.1619292114 

[18] A low-temperature external cavity diode laser for broad wavelength tuning
William G. Tobias, Jason S. Rosenberg, Nicholas R. Hutzler, Kang-Kuen Ni 
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 113104 (2016)arXiv:1607.01347(2016)

[17] Eliminating light shifts for single atom trapping 
Nicholas R. Hutzler, Lee R. Liu, Yichao Yu, Kang-Kuen Ni 
New J. of Phys.19, 023007 (2017)arXiv:1605.09422 (2016)

Prior Research

[16] State-specific detection of trapped HfF+ by photodissociation  
K.-K. Ni, H. Loh, M. C. Grau, K. C. Cossel, J. Ye, E. A. Cornell
J. Mol. Spec. 300, 12, 2014

[15] Precision Spectroscopy of Polarized Molecules in an Ion Trap 
>H. Loh, K. C. Cossel, M. C. Grau, K.-K. Ni, E. R. Meyer, J. L. Bohn, J. Ye, E. A. Cornell
Science 342, 1220, 2013

[14] Enhancement of Mechanical Q Factors by Optical Trapping
K.-K. Ni, R. Norte, D. J. Wilson, J. D. Hood, D. E. Chang, O. Painter, and H. J. Kimble
Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 214302, 2012.

[13] Ultrahigh-Q mechanical oscillators through optical trapping. 
D. E. Chang, K.-K. Ni, O. Painter, and H. J. Kimble
New Journal of Physics, 14, 045002, 2012.

[12] Suppression of extraneous thermal noise in cavity optomechanics 
Y. Zhao, D. J. Wilson, K.-K. Ni, and H. J. Kimble 
Optics Express, 20, 3586, 2012.

[11] Direct absorption imaging of ultracold polar molecules 
D. Wang, B. Neyenhuis, M. H. G. de Miranda, K.-K. Ni, S. Ospelkaus, D. S. Jin, J. Ye 
Phys. Rev. A, 81, 061404, 2010.

[10] Dipolar collisions of polar molecules in the quantum regime 
K.-K. Ni, S. Ospelkaus, D. Wang, G. Quemener, B. Neyenhuis, M. H. G. de Miranda, J. L. Bohn, J. Ye, D. S. Jin 
Nature, 464, 1324, 2010.

[9] Quantum-State Controlled Chemical Reactions of Ultracold Potassium-Rubidium Molecules 
S. Ospelkaus, K.-K. Ni, D. Wang, M. H. G. de Miranda, B. Neyenhuis, G. Quemener, P. S. Julienne, J. L. Bohn, D. S. Jin, J. Ye 
Science, 327, 853, 2010.

[8] Controlling the Hyperfine State of Rovibronic Ground-State Polar Molecules 
S. Ospelkaus, K.-K. Ni, G. Quéméner, B. Neyenhuis, D. Wang, M. H. G. de Miranda, J. L. Bohn, J. Ye, D. S. Jin
 Phys. Rev. Lett., 104, 030402, 2010.

[7] Ultracold polar molecules near quantum degeneracy 
S. Ospelkaus, K.-K. Ni, M. H. G. de Miranda, B. Neyenhuis, D. Wang, S. Kotochigova, P. S. Julienne, D. S. Jin, J. Ye. Faraday 
Discussions, 142, 351, 2009.

[6] A dipolar gas of ultracold molecules 
K.-K. Ni, S. Ospelkaus, D. J. Nesbitt, J. Ye, and D. S. Jin 
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 11, 9626, 2009.

[5] A High Phase-Space-Density Gas of Polar Molecules 
K.-K. Ni, S. Ospelkaus, M. H. G. de Miranda, A. Pe'er, B. Neyenhuis, J. J. Zirbel, S. Kotochigova,  P. S. Julienne, D. S. Jin, J. Ye 
Science, 322, 231, 2008.

[4] Efficient state transfer in an ultracold dense gas of heteronuclear molecules 
S. Ospelkaus, A. Pe'er, K. -K. Ni, J. J. Zirbel, B. Neyenhuis, S. Kotochigova, P. S. Julienne, J. Ye, and D. S. Jin 
Nat. Phys., 4, 622, 2008.

[3] Heteronuclear molecules in an optical dipole trap 
J. J. Zirbel, K.-K. Ni, S. Ospelkaus, T. L. Nicholson, M. L. Olsen, P. S. Julienne, C. E. Wieman, J. Ye, and D. S. Jin 
Physical Review A, 78, 013416, 2008.

[2] Collisional Stability of Fermionic Feshbach Molecules 
J. J. Zirbel, K.-K. Ni, S. Ospelkaus, J. P. D'Incao, C. E. Wieman, J. Ye, and D. S. Jin 
Phys. Rev. Lett., 100, 143201, 2008.

[1] Submicron giant magnetoresistive sensors for biological applications 
D.K. Wood, K.K. Ni, D.R. Schmidt, and A.N. Cleland 
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 120, 1, 2005.