Trapping and Cooling of Polar Molecules
Abstract
We have demonstrated methods to apply forces due to the scattering of photons, which are commonly used to manipulate atoms, to the more complex system of diatomic molecules. This has made it possible to use lasers to deflect, slow, and cool a beam of diatomic molecules. Possible applications of laser-cooled molecules range from quantum information processing and quantum simulation to the study of quantum chemical dynamics to precision measurements of fundamental symmetries. In the course of this work, we also made a detailed characterization of a new type of cryogenic molecular beam source, which made the observation of laser cooling possible and also may have wider applications in chemical physics; and we developed a simple method for laser frequency locking, with reconfigurable parameters, based on commercial Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) digital circuits.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 27, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA586058
Entities
People
- David DeMille
Organizations
- Yale University