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Tuning interactions between static-field-shielded polar molecules with microwaves

Christopher J. Ho1,*, Joy Dutta2, Bijit Mukherjee2,3,†, Jeremy M. Hutson2,‡, and Michael R. Tarbutt1,§

  • 1Centre for Cold Matter, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom
  • 2Joint Quantum Centre (JQC) Durham-Newcastle, Department of Chemistry, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
  • 3Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw, Pasteura 5, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland

  • *Contact author: christopher.ho15@imperial.ac.uk
  • †Present address: School of Chemical Sciences, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), Bhubaneswar, an OCC of Homi Bhabha National Institute, Khurda, Odisha 752050, India.
  • ‡Contact author: j.m.hutson@durham.ac.uk
  • §Contact author: m.tarbutt@imperial.ac.uk
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023087 – Published 29 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2td6-pcvk

Abstract

The ability to tune interparticle interactions is one of the main advantages of using ultracold quantum gases for quantum simulation of many-body physics. Current experiments with ultracold polar molecules employ shielding with microwave or static electric fields to prevent destructive collisional losses. The interaction potential of microwave-shielded molecules can be tuned by using microwaves of two different polarizations, while for static-field-shielded molecules the tunability of interactions is more limited and depends on the particular species. In this work, we propose a general method to tune the interactions between static-field-shielded molecules by applying a microwave field. We carry out coupled-channel scattering calculations in a field-dressed basis set to determine loss rate coefficients and scattering lengths. We find that both the s-wave scattering length and the dipole length can be widely tuned by changing the parameters of the microwave field, while maintaining strong suppression of lossy collisions.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023087– Published 29 April, 2026
  • Received 3 February 2026
  • Accepted 22 March 2026
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