Long-lived dipolar molecules and Feshbach molecules in a 3D optical lattice

We have realized long-lived ground-state polar molecules in a 3D optical
lattice, with a lifetime of up to 25 s, which is limited only by off-resonant
scattering of the trapping light. Starting from a 2D optical lattice, we
observe that the lifetime increases dramatically as a small lattice potential
is added along the tube-shaped lattice traps. The 3D optical lattice also
dramatically increases the lifetime for weakly bound Feshbach molecules. For a
pure gas of Feshbach molecules, we observe a lifetime of >20 s in a 3D optical
lattice; this represents a 100-fold improvement over previous results. This
lifetime is also limited by off-resonant scattering, the rate of which is
related to the size of the Feshbach molecule. Individually trapped Feshbach
molecules in the 3D lattice can be converted to pairs of K and Rb atoms and
back with nearly 100% efficiency.