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arXiv:1501.05326 · New Journal of Physics

Prospects for a narrow line MOT in YO

Alejandra Collopy, Matthew T. Hummon, Mark Yeo, Bo Yan, Jun Ye

Published May 7, 2015• 42 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In addition to being suitable for laser cooling and trapping in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using a relatively broad transition, the molecule YO possesses a narrow-line transition. This forbidden transition between the and states has linewidth kHz. After cooling in a MOT on the 614 nm to (orange) transition, the narrow 690 nm (red) transition can be used to further cool the sample, requiring only minimal additions to the first stage system. We estimate that the narrow line cooling stage will bring the temperature from ∼1 mK to ∼10 μ K, significantly advancing the frontier on direct cooling achievable for molecules.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/17/5/055008

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In addition to being suitable for laser cooling and trapping in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using a relatively broad transition, the molecule YO possesses a narrow-line transition. This forbidden transition between the and states has linewidth kHz. After cooling in a MOT on the 614 nm to (orange) transition, the narrow 690 nm (red) transition can be used to further cool the sample, requiring only minimal additions to the first stage system. We estimate that the narrow line cooling stage will bring the temperature from ∼1 mK to ∼10 μ K, significantly advancing the frontier on direct cooling achievable for molecules.
Laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of neutral atoms has been a driving force in physics over the last few decades by providing an efficient method to produce cold and dense samples of cold atoms. Polar molecules which can have strong, long-range dipolar interactions and possess more rich internal structure promise a wide range of new physics and chemistry studies if they can be controlled efficiently. Until recently, the only way to achieve sub-milliKelvin level temperatures in molecules was to associate two precooled atomic species, which while very effective, has a firm bound on the chemical diversity accessible. While laser cooling of molecules relies on fortuitous molecular properties, it will significantly increase the choices of species available for molecular cooling.In this thesis I present the improved optical deceleration of the molecule yttrium monoxide (YO) and the loading of molecules into a 3-D magneto-optical trap (MOT). By making an improved choice of repumping scheme from our groups’ previous work, our photon scattering rate has been increased. By also improving our buffer gas cell source, we produce a much larger flux (2000 times higher) of slowed molecules at 5 m/s to reach the trapping region. I have designed and implemented 3-D MOT field coils operating at 5 MHz, and demonstrated a successful operation of a 3-D MOT. This is the first 3-D laser trapping of an oxide and the first of a molecule with an electronic state intermediate to the main cycling transition states.I have also performed a study of the transition from the ground state to the intermediate electronic state, which has a narrower linewidth of 150 kHz, in contrast to the main cycling transition’s linewidth of 5 MHz. This transition is well suited to second-stage narrow line cooling after loading molecules with the main MOT transition, which will allow direct laser cooling of a molecule to the 10 uK regime.
We report three-dimensional trapping of an oxide molecule (YO), using a radio-frequency magneto-optical trap (MOT). The total number of molecules trapped is ∼1.5×10^{4}, with a temperature of 4.1(5) mK. This diversifies the frontier of molecules that are laser coolable and paves the way for the second-stage narrow-line cooling in this molecule to the microkelvin regime. Futhermore, the new challenges of creating a 3D MOT of YO resolved here indicate that MOTs of more complex nonlinear molecules should be feasible as well.
Laser cooling has become a powerful tool for producing quantum gases and has enabled the study of a wide range of phenomena only accessible at ultracold temperatures. This thesis will describe the implementation and characterization of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for laser cooling strontium to microkelvin temperatures operating on the narrow 689nm transition (the “red” MOT). The red MOT is the second cooling stage required to create quantum degenerate gases of strontium, bridging the temperatures and densities produced by the first cooling stage (the 461 nm “blue” MOT) and the shallow conservative traps for evaporation to quantum degeneracy.
We present our technique to create a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for dysprosium atoms using the narrow-line cooling transition at 626 nm to achieve suitable conditions for direct loading into an optical dipole trap. The MOT is loaded from an atomic beam via a Zeeman slower using the strongest atomic transition at 421 nm. With this combination of two cooling transitions we can trap up to 2.0·10(8) atoms at temperatures down to 6 μK. This cooling approach is simpler than present work with ultracold dysprosium and provides similar starting conditions for a transfer to an optical dipole trap.
Magneto-optical trapping of molecules has thus far been restricted to molecules with ^{2}Σ electronic ground states. These species are chemically reactive and only support a simple laser cooling scheme from their first excited rotational level. Here, we demonstrate a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of aluminum monofluoride (AlF), a deeply bound and intrinsically stable diatomic molecule with a ^{1}Σ^{+} electronic ground state. The MOT operates on the strong A^{1}Π←X^{1}Σ^{+} transition near 227.5 nm, whose Q(J) lines are all rotationally closed. We demonstrate a MOT of about 6×10^{4} molecules for the J=1 level of AlF, more than 10^{4} molecules for J=2 and 3, and with no fundamental limit in going to higher rotational levels. Laser cooling and trapping of AlF is conceptually similar to the introduction of alkaline-earth atoms into cold atom physics, and is key to leveraging its spin-forbidden a^{3}Π←X^{1}Σ^{+} transition for precision spectroscopy and narrow-line cooling.
We realize narrow-linewidth magneto-optical traps of 46^{46}46Ti, 48^{48}48Ti and 50^{50}50Ti atoms based on a 1040 nm-wavelength transition, cooling atoms to a minimum temperature in one dimension of Tz=990(20)T_z=990(20)Tz​=990(20) nK and a three-dimensional temperature of T3D=1.28(7)T_\mathrm{3D}=1.28(7)T3D​=1.28(7) μμμK. Atoms are pre-cooled in a broad-line magneto-optical trap and then transferred with about 25% efficiency to the narrow-line trap. We operate the narrow-line trap in two stages over 85 ms. First, a single cooling beam, blue-detuned from the narrow-linewidth atomic resonance, optically pumps and traps the atoms on a two-dimensional surface where the Zeeman shift from the applied spherical quadrupole magnetic field brings the light nearly to resonance. Second, four additional beams, counter-propagating in the transverse directions, cool and compress the atoms in all dimensions. The high magnetic moment of the laser cooling state makes the dynamics of the narrow-line titanium trap similar to those of other magnetic atoms. We measure the lifetime of the excited state of the transition to be τ=8.2(9)τ=8.2(9)τ=8.2(9) μμμs, indicating a transition linewidth of γ/2π=20(2)γ/2π=20(2)γ/2π=20(2) kHz, and also measure isotope shifts on the narrow-line transition. We use Stern-Gerlach separation on the ultracold Ti gas to measure the mJm_JmJ​-distribution in the narrow-line magneto-optical trap, finding over 98% of the atoms in the stretched spin state.