Abstract: Quantum ergodicity refers to the remarkable ability of quantum systems to explore their entire state space allowed by symmetry. Mechanisms for violating ergodicity are of fundamental interest in statistical and molecular physics and can offer novel insights into decoherence phenomena in complex molecular qubits. I will discuss the recent experimental observation of ergodicity breaking in rapidly rotating C60 fullerene molecules as a function of rotational angular momentum [1]. I will also show how the quantum ergodicity of molecular eigenstates can be harnessed as a general mechanism to tune their properties (such as transition dipole moments) by external magnetic fields, with implications for quantum control of dipolar interactions in ultracold molecular gases [2].
[1] L. R. Liu, D. Rosenberg, P. B. Changala, P. J. D. Crowley, D. J. Nesbitt, N. Y. Yao, T. V. Tscherbul, and J. Ye, Ergodicity breaking in rapidly rotating C60 fullerenes, Science 381, 778 (2023).
[2] R. Hermsmeier, A. M. Rey, and T. V. Tscherbul, Magnetically tunable electric dipolar interactions of ultracold polar molecules in the quantum ergodic regime, arXiv:2401.04902.
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