Related papers: Cold CH radicals for laser cooling and trapping
We present a comprehensive characterization of cold molecular beams from a cryogenic buffer-gas cell, providing an insight into the physics of buffer-gas cooling. Cold molecular beams are extracted from a cryogenic cell by electrostatic…
Molecules have vibrational, rotational, spin-orbit and hyperfine degrees of freedom or quantum states, each of which responds in a unique fashion to external electromagnetic radiation. The control over superpositions of these quantum states…
A prerequisite for laser cooling a molecular anion, which has not been achieved so far, is the precise knowledge of the relevant transition frequencies in the cooling scheme. To determine these frequencies we present a versatile method that…
Kinetic temperature is a fundamental parameter in molecular clouds. Symmetric top molecules, such as NH$_3$ and CH$_3$CCH, are often used as thermometers. However, at high temperatures, NH$_3$(2,2) can be collisionally excited to…
We have produced ultracold, polar RbCs* molecules via photoassociation in a laser-cooled mixture of Rb and Cs atoms. Using a model of the RbCs* molecular interaction which reproduces the observed rovibrational structure, we infer decay…
We study the internal state dynamics of optically trapped polyatomic molecules subject to room temperature blackbody radiation. Using rate equations that account for radiative decay and blackbody excitation between rovibrational levels of…
We present detailed calculations at the basis of our recent proposal for simultaneous cooling the rotational, vibrational and external molecular degrees of freedom. In this method, the molecular rovibronic states are coupled by an intense…
We report the successful buffer-gas cooling and magnetic trapping of chromium atoms with densities exceeding $10^{12}$ atoms per cm$^{3}$ at a temperature of 350 mK for the trapped sample. The possibilities to extend the method to…
We present a rigorous study of vibrational relaxation in p-H2 + p-H2 collisions at cold and ultracold temperatures and identify an efficient mechanism of ro-vibrational energy transfer. If the colliding molecules are in different rotational…
We address the question of whether numerical particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations and laboratory laser-plasma experiments can (or will be able to, in the near future) model realistic gamma-ray burst (GRB) shocks. For this, we compare the…
BaH (and its isotopomers) is an attractive molecular candidate for laser cooling to ultracold temperatures and a potential precursor for the production of ultracold gases of hydrogen and deuterium. The theoretical challenge is to simulate…
Cross sections and rate coefficients for rovibronic excitation of the CH$^+$ ion by electron impact and dissociative recombination of CH$^+$ with electrons are evaluated using a theoretical approach combining an R-matrix method and…
Some of us have recently reported in Science 321 232 (2008) vibrational cooling of translationally cold Cs_2 molecules into the lowest vibrational level v=0 of the singlet X 1Sigma_g ground electronic state. Starting from a sample of cold…
We reported a detailed experimental study of the cold collision of Barium monofluoride (BaF) with buffer gas and the high-resolution spectroscopy relevant with direct laser cooling. BaF molecules are efficiently produced with laser ablation…
The transfer of weakly bound KRb molecules from levels just below the dissociation threshold into the vibrational ground state with shaped laser pulses is studied. Optimal control theory is employed to calculate the pulses. The complexity…
Collision cross sections and rate constants between two ground- state oxygen molecules are investigated theoretically at translational energies below $\sim 1$K and in zero magnetic field. We present calculations for elastic and spin-…
Ultra-cold RbCs molecules in high-lying vibrational levels of the a$^3\Sigma^+$ ground electronic state are confined in an optical trap. Inelastic collision rates of these molecules with both Rb and Cs atoms are determined for individual…
Ultracold LiCs molecules in the absolute ground state X$^1\Sigma^+$, v"=0, J"=0 are formed via a single photo-association step starting from laser-cooled atoms. The selective production of v"=0, J"=2 molecules with a 50-fold higher rate is…
We demonstrate the production of ultracold polar RbCs molecules in their vibronic ground state, via photoassociation of laser-cooled atoms followed by a laser-stimulated state transfer process. The resulting sample of $X ^1\Sigma^+ (v=0)$…
We consider ultracold collisions of polar molecules confined in a one dimensional optical lattice. Using a quantum scattering formalism and a frame transformation method, we calculate elastic and chemical quenching rate constants for…