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arXiv · 2112.08349

Magneto-Optical Trapping and Sub-Doppler Cooling of a Polyatomic Molecule

Nathaniel B. Vilas·Christian Hallas·Loïc Anderegg·Paige Robichaud·Andrew Winnicki·Debayan Mitra·John M. Doyle
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Abstract

We report magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of a polyatomic molecule, calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). The MOT contains $2.0(5)\times 10^4$ CaOH molecules at a peak density of $3.0(8)\times10^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$. CaOH molecules are further sub-Doppler laser cooled in an optical molasses, to a temperature of 110(4) $\mu$K. The temperatures and densities achieved here make CaOH a viable candidate for a wide variety of quantum science applications, including the creation of optical tweezer arrays of CaOH molecules. This work also suggests that laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of many other polyatomic species will be both feasible and practical.

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Nathaniel B. Vilas, Christian Hallas, Loïc Anderegg, Paige Robichaud, Andrew Winnicki, Debayan Mitra, John M. Doyle. 2021-12-15. Magneto-Optical Trapping and Sub-Doppler Cooling of a Polyatomic Molecule. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04620-5

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