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Molecules cooled in a microwave freezer

Cooling molecular gases to nanokelvin temperatures is challenging because the molecules start to stick together when they reach the microkelvin range. Using a strong, rotating microwave field, a gas of sodium–potassium polar molecules has been stabilized and cooled to 21 nanokelvins — opening up many possibilities to explore exotic states of quantum matter.

This is a summary of: Schindewolf, A. et al. Evaporation of microwave-shielded polar molecules to quantum degeneracy. Nature 607, 677–681 (2022).

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01752-6

‘Expert opinion’ and the figure are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

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