Related papers: Rotational cooling of trapped polyatomic molecules
A novel method of ground state laser cooling of trapped atoms utilizes the absorption profile of a three (or multi-) level system which is tailored by a quantum interference. With cooling rates comparable to conventional sideband cooling,…
We demonstrate experimentally a method of all-optical selective rotational control in gas mixtures. Using an optical centrifuge - an intense laser pulse whose linear polarization rotates at an accelerated rate, we simultaneously excite two…
We demonstrate efficient transfer of ultracold molecules into a deeply bound rovibrational level of the singlet ground state potential in the presence of an optical lattice. The overall molecule creation efficiency is 25%, and the transfer…
Cold molecular ions are promising candidates in various fields ranging from precision spectroscopy and test of fundamental physics to ultra-cold chemistry. Control of internal and external degrees of freedom is a prerequisite for many of…
We present experimental results from a new scheme for magneto-optically trapping strontium monofluoride (SrF) molecules, which provides increased confinement compared to our original work. The improved trap employs a new approach to…
Extremely fast rotating molecules carrying significantly more energy in their rotation than in any other degree of freedom are known as "super rotors". It has been speculated that super rotors may exhibit a number of unique properties.…
The low-temperature (up to about 100K) collisional (de)excitation cross sections are computed using the full coupled-channel (CC) quantum dynamics for both Li$_2$ and Li$_2^+$ molecular targets in collision with $^4$He. The interaction…
With MgH^+ ions as a test case, we investigate to what extent the rotational motion of smaller polar molecular ions sympathetically cooled into Coulomb crystals in linear Paul traps couples to the translational motions of the ion ensemble.…
We realize laser cooling and trapping of titanium (Ti) atoms in a mangeto-optical trap (MOT). While Ti does not possess a transition suitable for laser cooling out of its $\mathrm{3d^24s^2}$ $\mathrm{a^3F}$ ground term, there is such a…
Laser cooling of molecules employing broadband optical pumping involves a timescale separation between laser excitation and spontaneous emission. Here, we optimize the optical pumping step using shaped laser pulses. We derive two…
Ultracold molecular gases are promising as an avenue to rich many-body physics, quantum chemistry, quantum information, and precision measurements. This richness, which flows from the complex internal structure of molecules, makes the…
We present theoretical and experimental progress towards a new approach for the precision spectroscopy, coherent manipulation and state-to-state chemistry of single isolated molecular ions in the gas phase. Our method consists of a…
We carry out calculations on $M$-changing collisions of NH ($^3\Sigma^-$) molecules in magnetically trappable states using a recently calculated potential energy surface. We show that elastic collision rates are much faster than inelastic…
Molecular laser cooling and trapping requires addressing all spontaneous decays to excited vibrational states that occur at the $\gtrsim 10^{-4} - 10^{-5}$ level, which is accomplished by driving repumping transitions out of these states.…
Microscopic control over polar molecules with tunable interactions would enable realization of novel quantum phenomena. Using an applied electric field gradient, we demonstrate layer-resolved state preparation and imaging of ultracold…
We show that an ensemble of polar molecules trapped in an optical lattice can be considered as a controllable open quantum system. The coupling between collective rotational excitations and the motion of the molecules in the lattice…
Cooling the trapped atoms toward their motional ground states is key to applications of quantum simulation and quantum computation. By utilizing nonreciprocal couplings between constituent atoms, we present an intriguing dark-state cooling…
Methyl cyanide is an important trace molecule in space, especially in star-forming regions where it is one of the more common molecules used to derive kinetic temperatures. We want to obtain accurate spectroscopic parameters of minor…
We explore the uses of ultracold molecules as a platform for future experiments in the field of quantum simulation, focusing on two molecular species, $^{40}$Ca$^{19}$F and $^{87}$Rb$^{133}$Cs. We report the development of coherent quantum…
Using the ab initio computed Potential Energy Surface (PES) for the electronic interaction of the MgH$^+$ ($^1\Sigma$) ion with the He($^1$S) atom, we calculate the relevant state-changing rotationally inelastic collision cross sections…