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arXiv · 1410.4699

Deceleration of molecules in a supersonic beam by the optical field in a low-finesse cavity

Zhihao Lan·Yongkai Zhao·Peter F. Barker·Weiping Lu
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Abstract

We study the dynamics of a supersonic molecular beam in a low-finesse optical cavity and demonstrate that most molecules in the beam can be decelerated to zero central velocity by the intracavity optical field in a process analogous to electrostatic Stark deceleration. We show that the rapid switching of the optical field for slowing the molecules is automatically generated by the cavity-induced dynamics. We further show that $\sim1\%$ of the molecules can be optically trapped at a few millikelvin in the same cavity.

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Zhihao Lan, Yongkai Zhao, Peter F. Barker, Weiping Lu. 2014-10-17. Deceleration of molecules in a supersonic beam by the optical field in a low-finesse cavity. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.81.013419

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