We report magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of a polyatomic molecule, calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). The MOT contains $2.0(5)\times 10^4$ CaOH molecules at a peak density of $3.0(8)\times10^{6}$ cm $^{-3}$ . CaOH molecules are further sub-Doppler laser cooled in an optical molasses, to a temperature of 110(4) $μ$ K. The temperatures and densities achieved here make CaOH a viable candidate for a wide variety of quantum science applications, including the creation of optical tweezer arrays of CaOH molecules. This work also suggests that laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of many other polyatomic species will be both feasible and practical.We report magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of a polyatomic molecule, calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). The MOT contains $2.0(5)\times 10^4$ CaOH molecules at a peak density of $3.0(8)\times10^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$. CaOH molecules are further sub-Doppler laser cooled in an optical molasses, to a temperature of 110(4) $μ$K. The temperatures and densities achieved here make CaOH a viable candidate for a wide variety of quantum science applications, including the creation of optical tweezer arrays of CaOH molecules. This work also suggests that laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of many other polyatomic species will be both feasible and practical.

arXiv:2112.08349Dec 15, 20219 citations

We report magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of a polyatomic molecule, calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). The MOT contains

2.0(5)\times 10^4

CaOH molecules at a peak density of

3.0(8)\times10^{6}

^{-3}

. CaOH molecules are further sub-Doppler laser cooled in an optical molasses, to a temperature of 110(4)

μ

K. The temperatures and densities achieved here make CaOH a viable candidate for a wide variety of quantum science applications, including the creation of optical tweezer arrays of CaOH molecules. This work also suggests that laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of many other polyatomic species will be both feasible and practical.