Sisyphus Laser Cooling of a Polyatomic Molecule.
Phys Rev Lett
; 118(17): 173201, 2017 Apr 28.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28498706
ABSTRACT
We perform magnetically assisted Sisyphus laser cooling of the triatomic free radical strontium monohydroxide (SrOH). This is achieved with principal optical cycling in the rotationally closed P(N^{''}=1) branch of either the X[over Ë]^{2}Σ^{+}(000)âA[over Ë]^{2}Π_{1/2}(000) or the X[over Ë]^{2}Σ^{+}(000)âB[over Ë]^{2}Σ^{+}(000) vibronic transitions. Molecules lost into the excited vibrational states during the cooling process are repumped back through the B[over Ë](000) state for both the (100) level of the Sr-O stretching mode and the (02^{0}0) level of the bending mode. The transverse temperature of a SrOH molecular beam is reduced in one dimension by 2 orders of magnitude to â¼750 µK. This approach opens a path towards creating a variety of ultracold polyatomic molecules by means of direct laser cooling.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Language:
En
Journal:
Phys Rev Lett
Year:
2017
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States