Challenges of laser-cooling molecular ions

Abstract

The direct laser cooling of neutral diatomic molecules in molecular beams suggests that trapped molecular ions can also be laser cooled. The long storage time and spatial localization of trapped molecular ions provides the opportunity for multi-step cooling strategies, but also requires a careful consideration of rare molecular transitions. We briefly summarize the requirements that a diatomic molecule must meet for laser cooling, and we identify a few potential molecular ion candidates. We then perform a detailed computational study of the candidates BH+ and AlH+, including improved ab initio calculations of the electronic state potential energy surfaces and transition rates for rare dissociation events. Based on an analysis of population dynamics, we determine which transitions must be addressed for laser cooling and compare experimental schemes using continuous-wave and pulsed lasers

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Cited by in corpus (28)

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• Precision spectroscopy by photon-recoil signal amplification
• Efficient sympathetic motional ground-state cooling of a molecular ion
• Relativistic study of the nuclear anapole moment effects in diatomic molecules
• Cooling of a Zero-Nuclear-Spin Molecular Ion to a Selected Rotational State
• Search for variation of fundamental constants: Strong enhancements in $X^2\Pi$ cations of dihalogens and hydrogen halides
• The ion-atom absorption processes as one of the factors of the influence on the sunspot opacity
• Rotational State Analysis of AlH+ by Two-Photon Dissociation
• Laser-coolable AcOH${}^{+}$ ion for $\mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}$-violation searches
• Quantum-defect theory of resonant charge exchange
• Optical pulse-shaping for internal cooling of molecules
• Nuclear-spin dependent parity violation in diatomic molecular ions
• Optical Pumping of TeH+: Implications for the Search for Varying mp/me
• IP determination and 1+1 REMPI spectrum of SiO at 210-220 nm with implications for SiO${}^{+}$ ion trap loading
• Resonant Few-Photon Excitation of a Single-Ion Oscillator
• Optical-mechanical cooling of a charged resonator
• High-resolution laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy of ${}^{28}$Si${}^{16}$O${}^{+}$ and ${}^{29}$Si${}^{16}$O${}^{+}$ in a cryogenic buffer-gas cell
• Production of translationally cold barium monohalide ions
• Reassessing the potential of TlCl for laser cooling experiments via four-component correlated electronic structure calculations
• Laser Scheme for Doppler Cooling of the Hydroxyl Cation (OH${}^{+}$)
• Photodissociation spectra of single trapped CaOH+ molecular ions
• Temperature-dependent rotationally inelastic collisions of OH- and He
• Protocol for Optically Pumping AlH${}^{+}$ to a Pure Quantum State
• Resonance fluorescence of a laser cooled atom in a non-harmonic potential