Description
The past decade has seen tremendous progress in the field of direct laser cooling and trapping of molecules, extending to new candidate platforms for quantum computing, quantum simulation, precision measurement and metrology. Here we present our progress towards laser cooling and trapping of CaH molecules. We demonstrate experimental results on transverse Sisyphus cooling of a cold beam of CaH molecules. We obtain good agreement with the optical Bloch equations and Monte Carlo simulations, and establish that a high scattering rate (~10^6 photons/s) is achievable for this molecule. Next, we present our characterization of molecular predissociation and discuss potential dissociation pathways for the creation of atomic hydrogen from CaH. Looking toward the future, we describe our plans to perform longitudinal white-light slowing and 3D magneto-optical trapping with the application of the first two vibrational repumps. This work sets the stage for a trapped, dilute cloud of ultracold hydrogen, which could further improve on the current limits in hydrogen spectroscopy.
| Presenter name | Qi Sun |
|---|---|
| How will you attend ICAP-27? | I am planning on in-person attendance |
