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arXiv · 1603.02787

Laser slowing of CaF molecules to near the capture velocity of a molecular MOT

Boerge Hemmerling·Eunmi Chae·Aakash Ravi·Loic Anderegg·Garrett K. Drayna·Nicholas R. Hutzler·Alejandra L. Collopy·Jun Ye·Wolfgang Ketterle·John M. Doyle
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Abstract

Laser slowing of CaF molecules down to the capture velocity of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for molecules is achieved. Starting from a two-stage buffer gas beam source, we apply frequency-broadened "white-light" slowing and observe approximately 6x10^4 CaF molecules with velocities near 10\,m/s. CaF is a candidate for collisional studies in the mK regime. This work represents a significant step towards magneto-optical trapping of CaF.

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Boerge Hemmerling, Eunmi Chae, Aakash Ravi, Loic Anderegg, Garrett K. Drayna, Nicholas R. Hutzler, Alejandra L. Collopy, Jun Ye, Wolfgang Ketterle, John M. Doyle. 2016-03-09. Laser slowing of CaF molecules to near the capture velocity of a molecular MOT. https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-4075/49/17/174001

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