Related papers: Cold free radical molecules in the laboratory fram…
The reaction between atomic oxygen and molecular hydrogen is an important one in astrochemistry as it regulates the abundance of the hydroxyl radical and serves to open the chemistry of oxygen in diverse astronomical environments. However,…
We demonstrate the coherent optical bichromatic force on a molecule, the polar free radical strontium monohydroxide (SrOH). A dual-frequency retro-reflected laser beam addressing the $\tilde{X}^2\Sigma^+\leftrightarrow\tilde{A}^2\Pi_{1/2}$…
When a laser cavity supports the propagation of several ultrashort pulses, these pulses interact and can form compact bound states called soliton molecules. Soliton molecules are fascinating objects of nonlinear science, which present…
Molecular predissociation is the spontaneous, nonradiative bond breaking process that can occur upon excitation. In the context of laser cooling, predissociation is an unwanted consequence of molecular structure that limits the ability to…
We identify that both the dynamic core polarization and dynamic orbital deformation are important in the orientation-dependent high-harmonic generation of CO molecules subjected to intense few cycle laser fields. These polarization dynamics…
Studies of ion-molecule reactions at low temperatures are difficult because stray electric fields in the reaction volume affect the kinetic energy of charged reaction partners. We describe a new experimental approach to study ion-molecule…
We present the results from three dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of decaying high-speed turbulence in dense molecular clouds. We compare our results, which include a detailed cooling function, molecular hydrogen chemistry and a…
Whereas atom-molecule collisions have been studied with complete quantum state resolution, interactions between two state-selected molecules have proven much harder to probe. Here, we report the measurement of state-resolved inelastic…
We demonstrate a 1D magneto-optical trap of the polar free radical calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). A quasi-closed cycling transition is established to scatter $\sim 10^3$ photons per molecule, predominantly limited by interaction time. This…
We experimentally observe the action of multiple light pulses on the transverse motion of a continuous beam of fullerenes. The light potential is generated by non-resonant ultra-short laser pulses in perpendicular spatial overlap with the…
A new perspective on how to manipulate molecules by means of very strong laser pulses is emerging with insights from the so-called light-induced potentials, which are the adiabatic potential energy surfaces of molecules severely distorted…
We study laser cooling of atomic gases by collisional redistribution of fluorescence. In a high pressure buffer gas regime, frequent collisions perturb the energy levels of alkali atoms, which allows for the absorption of a far red detuned…
We examine the prospects for utilizing the optical bichromatic force (BCF) to greatly enhance laser deceleration and cooling for near-cycling transitions in small molecules. We discuss the expected behavior of the BCF in near-cycling…
The molecular Hubbard Hamiltonian (MHH) naturally arises for ultracold ground state polar alkali dimer molecules in optical lattices. We show that, unlike ultracold atoms, different molecules display different many-body phases due to…
We have computed ab inito cross sections for cold collisions of Rb atoms with OH radicals. We predict collision rate constants of order 10^{-11} cm^3/s at temperatures in the range 10-100 mK at which molecules have already been produced…
The study of ultracold molecules tightly trapped in an optical lattice can expand the frontier of precision measurement and spectroscopy, and provide a deeper insight into molecular and fundamental physics. Here we create, probe, and image…
We propose to sympathetically slow and cool polar molecules in a cold, low-density beam using laser-cooled Rydberg atoms. The elastic collision cross sections between molecules and Rydberg atoms are large enough to efficiently thermalize…
Cold atoms in optical lattices allow for accurate studies of many body dynamics. Rapid time-dependent modifications of optical lattice potentials may result in significant excitations in atomic systems. The dynamics in such a case is…
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-…
We theoretically analyze the cooling dynamics of an atom which is tightly trapped inside a high-finesse optical resonator. Cooling is achieved by suitably tailored scattering processes, in which the atomic dipole transition either scatters…