Sub-Doppler Cooling and Compressed Trapping of YO Molecules at µK Temperatures.
Phys Rev X
; 10(2)2020.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33643688
ABSTRACT
Complex molecular structure demands customized solutions to laser cooling by extending its general set of principles and practices. Compared with other laser-cooled molecules, yttrium monoxide (YO) exhibits a large electron-nucleus interaction, resulting in a dominant hyperfine interaction over the electron spin-rotation coupling. The YO ground state is thus comprised of two manifolds of closely spaced states, with one of them possessing a negligible Landé g factor. This unique energy level structure favors dual-frequency dc magneto-optical trapping (MOT) and gray molasses cooling (GMC). We report exceptionally robust cooling of YO at 4 µK over a wide range of laser intensity, detunings (one- and two-photon), and magnetic field. The magnetic insensitivity enables the spatial compression of the molecular cloud by alternating GMC and MOT under the continuous operation of the quadrupole magnetic field. A combination of these techniques produces a laser-cooled molecular sample with the highest phase space density in free space.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Phys Rev X
Año:
2020
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos