Laser cooling of molecules

Abstract

Recently, laser cooling methods have been extended from atoms to molecules. The complex rotational and vibrational energy level structure of molecules makes laser cooling difficult, but these difficulties have been overcome and molecules have now been cooled to a few microkelvin and trapped for several seconds. This opens many possibilities for applications in quantum science and technology, controlled chemistry, and tests of fundamental physics. This article explains how molecules can be decelerated, cooled and trapped using laser light, reviews the progress made in recent years, and outlines some future applications.

An entry-level review article prepared for Contemporary Physics

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Cited by in corpus (37)

• Assembly of a rovibrational ground state molecule in an optical tweezer
• Polyatomic Molecules as Quantum Sensors for Fundamental Physics
• Quantum state manipulation and cooling of ultracold molecules
• Bimolecular chemistry in the ultracold regime
• Precision test of statistical dynamics with state-to-state ultracold chemistry
• Laser cooled molecules
• Methods for measuring the electron EDM using ultracold YbF molecules
• Laser cooling for quantum gases
• Collisions Between Ultracold Molecules and Atoms in a Magnetic Trap
• Direct laser cooling of calcium monohydride molecules
• An ultracold molecular beam for testing fundamental physics
• Enriching the quantum toolbox of ultracold molecules with Rydberg atoms
• Observation of the Hanbury Brown and Twiss Effect with Ultracold Molecules
• Bright, continuous beams of cold free radicals
• Laser-coolable AcOH${}^{+}$ ion for $\mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}$-violation searches
• Rovibrational quenching of C${}_2$-anions in collisions with He, Ne, and Ar atoms
• Simulation of Cryogenic Buffer Gas Beams
• Accurate theoretical determination of the ionization potentials of CaF, SrF, and BaF
• Ab initio study of electronic states and radiative properties of the AcF molecule
• A New Design for a Traveling-Wave Zeeman Decelerator: II. Experiment
• Multivalent optical cycling centers in polyatomic molecules
• A scalable scanning transfer cavity laser stabilization scheme based on the Red Pitaya STEMlab platform
• Simulations of a frequency-chirped magneto-optical trap of MgF
• Quantum phases of bosonic chiral molecules in helicity lattices
• Radiation forces and torques in optics and acoustics
• A New Design for a Traveling-Wave Zeeman Decelerator: I. Theory
• Zeeman-Sisyphus Deceleration for Heavy Molecules with Perturbed Excited-State Structure
• Hyperfine structure of the ${\mathbf{A}}^1\mathbf{\Pi }$ state of AlCl and its relevance to laser cooling and trapping
• Laser Scheme for Doppler Cooling of the Hydroxyl Cation (OH${}^{+}$)
• Direct measurement of high-lying vibrational repumping transitions for molecular laser cooling
• Kapitza-Dirac blockade: A universal tool for the deterministic preparation of non-Gaussian oscillator states
• Low-$J$ transitions in ${\tilde{A}}^2\Pi (0,0,0)-{\tilde{X}}^2{\Sigma }^{+}(0,0,0)$ band of buffer-gas-cooled CaOH
• Dynamics of translational and rotational thermalization of AlF molecules via collisions with cryogenic helium
• Rotational properties of two interacting cold polar molecules: linear, symmetric, and asymmetric tops
• Magnetic Feshbach resonances between atoms in ${}^2$S and ${}^3$P${}_0$ states: mechanisms and dependence on atomic properties
• Low Duty Cycle Pulsed UV Technique for Spectroscopy of Aluminum Monochloride
• Interactions and cold collisions of AlF in the ground and excited electronic states with He