A brief review is given of topics relating to dynamical processes arising in nonlinear interactions between light and resonant systems (atoms or molecules) in the presence of a magnetic field.
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 polyatomi…
We demonstrate a 1D magneto-optical trap of the polar free radical calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). A quasi-closed cycling transition is established to scatter $\sim 10^3$ photons per molecule, predominantly limited by interaction time. This enables radiative laser cooling of CaOH while compressing the molecular beam, leading to a significant increase in on-axis beam brightness and reduction in temperature from 8.4 mK to 1.4 mK.
Laser cooling and trapping are central to modern atomic physics. The workhorse technique in cold-atom physics is the magneto-optical trap (MOT), which combines laser cooling with a restoring force from radiation pressure. For a variety of atomic species, MOTs can capture and cool large numbers of particles to ultracold temperatures (<1 mK); this has enabled the study of a wide range of phenomena from optical clocks to ultracold collisions whilst also serving as the ubiquitous starting point for further cooling into the regime of quantum degeneracy. Magneto-optical trapping of molecules could p…
Modeling magneto-optical trapping of CaF molecules
分子的磁光俘获力远弱于碱金属原子,因为当存在多个基态时,光子散射率会降低,并且因为光泵入暗态。当上态的塞曼分裂比下态小得多时,力进一步减小。我们使用速率模型来估计CaF分子的磁光阱(MOT)中的捕获力和阻尼力的强度,使用A $^{2}Π_{1/2}$ - X $^{2}Σ^{+}$跃迁或B $^{2}Σ^{+}$ - X $^{2}Σ^{+}$跃迁。我们确定了一个新的机制时,出现的磁光捕获,在每一个光束的MOT,两个激光组件具有相反的偏振和不同的失谐地址相同的过渡。这种机制产生一个强大的捕获力,即使在上层状态有很少或没有塞曼分裂。当使用A $^{2}Π_{1/2}$ - X $^{2}Σ^{+}$转变时,它是负责捕获力的主要机制。
We study inelastic collisions between CaF molecules and $^{87}$Rb atoms in a dual-species magneto-optical trap. The presence of atoms increases the loss rate of molecules from the trap. By measuring the loss rates and density distributions, we determine a collisional loss rate coefficient $k_{2} = (1.43 \pm 0.29) \times 10^{-10}$ cm$^{3}$/s at a temperature of 2.4 mK. We show that this is not substantially changed by light-induced collisions or by varying the populations of excited-state atoms and molecules. The observed loss rate is close to the universal rate expected in the presence of fast…
We present a theoretical study of magneto-optical trapping (MOT) force exerted on magnesium monofluoride (MgF) with 3D rate equations, in which we have considered the complex vibrational and rotational levels and the effects of small internal splittings and degeneracies,including fine and hyperfine structures and the magnetic quantum numbers. We investigate the feasibility of MOT for MgF with a very small excited state g-factor ($g_{e} = -0.0002$) and a large radiative decay reate ($Γ = 2π\times22$MHz) for the electronic transition of X$^2Σ^{+}$ to A$^2Π_{1/2}$ states. We also optimize the MOT…
We demonstrate the formation of a single NaCs molecule in an optical tweezer by magnetoassociation through an s-wave Feshbach resonance at 864.11(5)G. Starting from single atoms cooled to their motional ground states, we achieve conversion efficiencies of 47(1)%, and measure a molecular lifetime of 4.7(7)ms. By construction, the single molecules are predominantly (77(5)%) in the center-of-mass motional ground state of the tweezer. Furthermore, we produce a single p-wave molecule near 807G by first preparing one of the atoms with one quantum of motional excitation. Our creation of a single weak…
We study theoretically the behavior of laser-cooled calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules in an optical molasses and magneto-optical trap (MOT), and compare our results to recent experiments. We use multi-level optical Bloch equations to estimate the force and the diffusion constant, followed by a Fokker-Planck-Kramers equation to calculate the time-evolution of the velocity distribution. The calculations are done in three-dimensions, and we include all the relevant energy levels of the molecule and all the relevant frequency components of the light. Similar to simpler model systems, the veloci…
We study enhanced magneto-association of atoms into weakly-bound molecules near a Feshbach resonance using a quench preparatory stage. In anticipation of experiments with NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory aboard the International Space Station, we assume as a baseline a dual-species ($^{87}$Rb and $^{41}$K) gas in a parameter regime enabled by a microgravity environment. This includes subnanokelvin temperatures and dual-species gases at densities as low as 10$^8$/cm$^3$. Our studies indicate that, in such a regime, traditional magneto-association schemes are inefficient due to the weak coupling betw…
Magneto-electrostatic trapping of ground state OH molecules
我们报道了在密度为$\sim3\times10^{3}$ cm $^{-3}$和温度为$\sim$ 30 mK的中性、基态羟基自由基(OH)的磁约束。一个可调节的电场的大小足以抑制OH是叠加在陷阱中的四极或均匀场的几何形状。OH被限制在一个整体的潜力,建立通过分子状态混合诱导的组合电场和磁场作用于分子的电偶极子和磁偶极矩,分别。构造了一个包含斯塔克项和塞曼项的有效分子哈密顿量来描述阱内的单分子动力学。使用该哈密顿量的蒙特卡罗模拟精确地模拟了在各种陷阱配置中观察到的陷阱动力学。将冷极性分子限制在磁阱中,留下大的、可调节的电场进行控制,是研究低能偶极-偶极碰撞的重要一步。
The association process of Feshbach molecules is well described by a Landau-Zener (LZ) transition above the Fermi temperature, such that two-body physics dominates the dynamics. However, using $^6$Li atoms and the associated Feshbach resonance at $B_r=834.1$ G, we observe an enhancement of the atom-molecule coupling as the fermionic atoms reach degeneracy, demonstrating the importance of many-body coherence not captured by the conventional LZ model. In the experiment, we apply a linear association ramp ranging from adiabatic to non-equilibrium molecule association for various temperatures. We …