Compared to the atomic chip, which has been a powerful platform to perform an astonishing range of applications from rapid Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) production to the atomic clock, the molecular chip is only in its infant stages. Recently a one dimensional electric lattice was demonstrated to trap polar molecules on a chip. This excellent work opens up the way to building a molecular chip laboratory. Here we propose a two-dimensional (2D) electric lattice on a chip with concise and robust structure, which is formed by arrays of squared gold wires. Arrays of microtraps that originate in the microsize electrodes offer a steep gradient and thus allow for confining both light and heavy polar molecules. Theoretical analysis and numerical calculations are performed using two types of sample molecules, ND3 and SrF, to justify the possibility of our proposal. The height of the minima of the potential wells is about 10 μm above the surface of the chip and can be easily adjusted in a wide range by changing the voltages applied on the electrodes. These microtraps offer intriguing perspectives for investigating cold molecules in periodic potentials, such as quantum computing science, low-dimensional physics, and some other possible applications amenable to magnetic or optical lattice. The 2D adjustable electric lattice is expected to act as a building block for a future gas-phase molecular chip laboratory.
