AMO In the literature: open

Do condensates of polar molecules form supersolids?

In plain words

Molecules with electric dipoles interact far more strongly than magnetic atoms and were recently condensed. Whether they can form a supersolid, and in which range of control fields, is open.

Precise statement

Bose-Einstein condensate of microwave-shielded NaCs (or similar) with effective $a_{\mathrm{dd}} >> a_{\mathrm{s}}$. Determine whether a phase-coherent droplet array (supersolid) exists between the uniform BEC and isolated droplets, as a function of microwave Rabi frequency and ellipticity. Answer: yes or no, with phase coherence measured across droplets.

What would settle it

Matter-wave interference showing a stable relative phase between droplets of a molecular condensate.

Status in the literature

Unverified note

Molecular BEC was reached in 2024 (Bigagli et al., Nature; arXiv:2312.10965) and self-bound molecular droplets were reported in 2025 (arXiv:2507.15208); no molecular supersolid has been reported.

See also