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Laser cooling diatomic molecules to below the Doppler limit

Stefan Truppe, H. J. Williams, Moritz Hambach +5 more

Bulletin of the American Physical SocietyJun 8, 20170 citations

Atoms Laser-Cooled Below the Doppler-Cooling Limit

Paul D. Lett, Christoph Ira Westbrook, Richard N. Watts +4 more

Springer eBooksJan 1, 19891 citation

Magneto-optical trapping and sub-Doppler cooling of a polyatomic molecule

Nathaniel B. Vilas, Christian Hallas, Loïc Anderegg +4 more

NatureJun 1, 2022180 citations

Superradiance-assisted two-color Doppler cooling of molecules

Caleb Heuvel-Horwitz, Susanne F. Yelin

For experiments that require a quantum system to be in the ultra-cold regime, laser cooling is an essential tool. While techniques for laser cooling ions and neutral atoms have been refined and temperatures below the Doppler limit have been achieved, present-day techniques are limited to a small class of molecules. This paper proposes a general cooling scheme for molecules based on vibrational-state transitions. Superradiance is used to speed up the two-photon transition. Simulations of this scheme achieve temperatures comparable to those achieved by existing two-level schemes for neutral atoms and ions.For experiments that require a quantum system to be in the ultra-cold regime, laser cooling is an essential tool. While techniques for laser cooling ions and neutral atoms have been refined and temperatures below the Doppler limit have been achieved, present-day techniques are limited to a small class of molecules. This paper proposes a general cooling scheme for molecules based on vibrational-state transitions. Superradiance is used to speed up the two-photon transition. Simulations of this scheme achieve temperatures comparable to those achieved by existing two-level schemes for neutral atoms and ions.

arXiv:2112.00912Dec 2, 20210 citations

A new route for laser cooling and trapping of cold molecules: Intensity-gradient cooling of MgF molecules using localized hollow beams

Kang Yan, Bin Wei, Yaling Yin +6 more

Abstract We propose a promising scheme to prepare ultracold MgF molecules from a slowed cold molecular beam by using three-dimensional pure intensity-gradient induced Sisyphus cooling. The cooling is based on a blue-detuned localized hollow beam and a weak repumping beam. We investigate the dynamic process in the trap with the method of the Monte-Carlo simulations, verifying the feasibility. Our results show that achieving sub-Doppler temperature should be possible in such a well-designed trap; the trapped MgF molecules with initial temperature of 1 mK can be directly cooled to the final equilibrium temperature of about 46.5 μ K , well below the Doppler limit (about 527.9 μ K for MgF); meanwhile, molecules with initial temperature of 14 mK can be even cooled to about 68.7 μ K .Abstract We propose a promising scheme to prepare ultracold MgF molecules from a slowed cold molecular beam by using three-dimensional pure intensity-gradient induced Sisyphus cooling. The cooling is based on a blue-detuned localized hollow beam and a weak repumping beam. We investigate the dynamic process in the trap with the method of the Monte-Carlo simulations, verifying the feasibility. Our results show that achieving sub-Doppler temperature should be possible in such a well-designed trap; the trapped MgF molecules with initial temperature of 1 mK can be directly cooled to the final equilibrium temperature of about 46.5 μ K , well below the Doppler limit (about 527.9 μ K for MgF); meanwhile, molecules with initial temperature of 14 mK can be even cooled to about 68.7 μ K .

New Journal of PhysicsFeb 3, 202018 citations

Photon spin molasses for laser cooling molecular rotation

Wesley C. Campbell, Benjamin L. Augenbraun

Laser cooling of translational motion of small molecules is performed by addressing transitions that ensure spontaneous emission cannot cause net rotational excitation. This will not be possible once the rotational splitting becomes comparable to the operational excitation linewidth, as will occur for large molecules or wide bandwidth lasers. We show theoretically that in this regime, angular momentum transfer from red-detuned Doppler cooling light can also exert a damping torque on linear molecules, cooling rotation to the same Doppler limit (typically ≈500μK for molecules with ≈10ns excited-state lifetimes). This cooling process is derived from photon spin, and indicates that standard optical molasses can also cool molecular rotation with no additional experimental resources.Laser cooling of translational motion of small molecules is performed by addressing transitions that ensure spontaneous emission cannot cause net rotational excitation. This will not be possible once the rotational splitting becomes comparable to the operational excitation linewidth, as will occur for large molecules or wide bandwidth lasers. We show theoretically that in this regime, angular momentum transfer from red-detuned Doppler cooling light can also exert a damping torque on linear molecules, cooling rotation to the same Doppler limit (typically ≈500μK for molecules with ≈10ns excited-state lifetimes). This cooling process is derived from photon spin, and indicates that standard optical molasses can also cool molecular rotation with no additional experimental resources.

arXiv:2111.03763Journal of Molecular SpectroscopyFeb 26, 20222 citations

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