Microwave-Optical Stark-Sisyphus Deceleration

P. F. Barker

N. Coppendale, P. Douglas, Lei Wang +1 more

R. C. Fulton, Alexis I. Bishop, MN Shneider +1 more

Hiroyo Ogawa, K. Horikawa

Hiromitsu Sawaoka, Alexander Frenett, Abdullah Nasir +4 more

We demonstrate and characterize Zeeman-Sisyphus (ZS) deceleration of a beam of ytterbium monohydroxide. Our method uses a combination of large magnetic fields ($\ensuremath{\sim}2.5$ T) and optical spin-flip transitions to decelerate molecules while scattering only $\ensuremath{\sim}10$ photons per molecule. We study the challenges associated with the presence of internal molecular perturbations among the excited electronic states and discuss the methods used to overcome these challenges, including a modified ZS decelerator using microwave and optical transitions.

Katsunari Enomoto, Takamasa Momose

We propose a method to decelerate polar molecules from a beam using a microwave field. A moving standing wave of a microwave electric field causes an ac Stark shift to polar molecules and decelerates them. The method is applicable to polar molecules in rotational ground states and can be used to directly load a microwave trap. Numerical simulations are presented indicating large phase-space acceptance volume.