Towards the mass production of slow, trappable molecules

Abstract

The Fast Track Communication by Petzold et al (2018 New J. Phys. 20 042001) demonstrates the first Zeeman slowing scheme for species with type-II optical cycling transitions. This new approach is directly applicable to those ^2 Σ molecules that have recently been captured and cooled in molecular magneto-optical traps (MOTs) and has the potential to efficiently and continuously load these traps for the first time. This advance could produce molecular MOTs with populations comparable to their atomic counterparts and realize an ideal platform for a wide range of studies using large, dense samples of ultracold molecules.

Keywords

• Zeeman slower
• ultracold molecules
• laser cooling and trapping
• type-II cycling transitions
• magneto-optical trap (MOT)
• molecular magneto-optical trap