A molecule placed on a surface should be easier to probe and manipulate than one hidden inside a solid or suspended in vacuum. In practice, however, surface contamination creates an unstable, noisy environment that can quickly degrade the molecule’s delicate quantum properties.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have now overcome that barrier. Their technique allows molecules on a surface to be examined with spectroscopic precision while consistently reaching the ultimate quantum limit for coherence, something not previously achieved on a surface. The findings, published in Science, could expand studies of molecule-surface interactions and molecular quantum technologies.
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