2 Cold molecular physics

Masatoshi Kajita

Roth Bernhard

One of the current themes in quantum physics is the creation of cold ( 1 K) molecules to study molecule-molecule, molecule-atom, and molecule-radiation interactions under these novel low-temperature conditions. This book highlights the field of cold trapped molecular ions. In particular, the development of a novel, universal cooling method for charged particles, sympathetic cooling using laser-cooled atoms, together with the experimental and computational techniques required are extensively reviewed. The book also reviews first spectacular applications of the cold ion ensembles produced: the study of the properties of cold non-neutral plasmas, the study of ion-neutral chemical reactions and of photodissociation processes, and high-resolution rotational overtone spectroscopy of cold hydrogen molecular ions with unprecedented spectral resolution. The large potential of this field of research and its possible impact to other fields of physics, chemistry, and biology are highlighted. The book summarizes the main lines of research in cold trapped molecular ion physics, thus, making it useful as an introduction for advanced students and experienced researchers.

Jia Suo-Tang

The formation of ultra-cold molecules is extremely important for the research of quantum information processing,molecular physics and molecular chemistry.This paper reports the researching progress on ultra-cold molecule analysis,the characteristics and physical mechanism of the formation of ultra-cold molecules via photoassociation and gives a detailed presentation of spectrum measurement methods in this formation process.

Anders Kastberg

Edvardas Narevicius

Matteo Rini

Dense ensembles of laser-cooled molecules allow the observation of molecular collisions—a result that could lead to applications of cold molecular gases in quantum simulation and fundamental physics tests.