First tetratomic supermolecules realized at nanokelvin temperatures

A team of experimentalists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) and theorists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has succeeded for the first time in populating and stabilizing a new type of molecule, so-called field-linked tetratomic molecules. These “supermolecules” are so fragile that they can only exist at ultracold temperatures. Their existence had long been suspected but has never been demonstrated experimentally—until now.