Related papers: Slowing heavy, ground-state molecules using an alt…
We analyzed bichromatic and polychromatic stimulated forces for laser cooling and trapping of Yb atoms using only the narrow $^1S_0\rightarrow^3P_1$ transition. Our model is based on numerical solutions of optical Bloch equations for…
We present a novel optical cooling scheme that relies on hyperfine dark states to enhance loading and cooling atoms inside deep optical dipole traps. We demonstrate a seven-fold increase in the number of atoms loaded in the conservative…
Direct laser cooling of molecules has made significant progress in recent years. However, the selective cooling and manipulation of molecules based on their isotopic composition, which is ubiquitous in atomic laser cooling, has not yet been…
Efficient high-fidelity ground-state cooling of motional degrees of freedom is crucial for applications in quantum simulation, computing and metrology. Here, we demonstrate direct ground-state cooling of fermionic $^{171}$Yb and bosonic…
Ultracold molecules with both electron spin and an electric dipole moment offer new possibilities in quantum science. We use density-functional theory to calculate hyperfine coupling constants for a selection of molecules important in this…
We demonstrate simultaneous deceleration and trapping of a cold atomic and molecular mixture. This is the first step towards studies of cold atom-molecule collisions at low temperatures as well as application of sympathetic cooling. Both…
Diatomic molecules are promising systems for quantum science applications due to their complex energy structures and strong dipole-dipole interactions. Achieving ultracold temperatures is essential for these applications, but the complexity…
We produce SO_2 molecules with a centre of mass velocity near zero using a Stark decelerator. Since the initial kinetic energy of the supersonic SO_2 molecular beam is high, and the removed kinetic energy per stage is small, 326…
Cooling atoms to ultralow temperatures has produced a wealth of opportunities in fundamental physics, precision metrology, and quantum science. The more recent application of sophisticated cooling techniques to molecules, which has been…
The large electric dipole moments associated with highly excited Rydberg states of atoms and molecules make gas-phase samples in these states very well suited to deceleration and trapping using inhomogeneous electric fields. The methods of…
We implement and demonstrate the effectiveness of a cooling scheme using a moving, all-optical, one-way barrier to cool a sample of $^{87}$Rb atoms, achieving nearly a factor of 2 reduction in temperature. The one-way barrier, composed of…
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…
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…
The simple structure of the BH molecule makes it an excellent candidate for direct laser cooling. We measure the branching ratios for the decay of the ${\rm A}^{1}\Pi (v'=0)$ state to vibrational levels of the ground state, ${\rm…
The efficiency of cavity sideband cooling of trapped molecules is theoretically investigated for the case where the IR transition between two rovibrational states is used as a cycling transition. The molecules are assumed to be trapped…
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 magnetically enhanced laser cooling scheme applicable to multi-level type-II transitions and further diatomic molecules with adiabatic transfer. An angled magnetic field is introduced to not only remix the dark states, but also…
The ability to cool atoms below the Doppler limit -- the minimum temperature reachable by Doppler cooling -- has been essential to most experiments with quantum degenerate gases, optical lattices and atomic fountains, among many other…
We demonstrate laser cooling of barium monofluoride (138BaF) molecules. We use serrodynes to synthesize time-sequenced optical spectra that can be precisely tailored to the hyperfine structure of this heaviest non-radioactive alkaline earth…
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…