Apparatus for producing a Bose-Einstein condensate of polar molecules
Abstract
Project Summary/Abstract This document is Publicly Releasable We propose to acquire equipment needed to produce the first-ever Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of polar molecules. This equipment will extend the capabilities of our current apparatus for magneto-optical trapping of SrF molecules, so as to allow co-trapping of samples of SrF and 87Rb atoms in their lowest internal quantum states, for long durations. The 87Rb atoms, which easily can be cooled to form a BEC, will be used to cool SrF by thermal equilibration until SrF begins to chemically react with itself. If this occurs before BEC is achieved, SrF can be protected by engineering purely repulsive interactions between the molecules, and then cooled further via the technique of forced evaporation. Together, these measures should make it possible to create the conditions needed for a BEC of SrF. A wide range of proposals exist to employ such a quantum-degenerate gas of polar molecules in applications including quantum information, novel sensors, and fundamental physics; as such, development of the techniques discussed herein is likely to enhance future DoD capabilities. The proposed improvements to our apparatus consist of additional ultra-high vacuum chambers, a magnetic guide for SrF, various optics and equipment to produce co-located magnetooptical and magnetic traps of these species, a high-power laser to provide optical-dipole trapping of both species, an absorption imaging camera to measure the temperature and density of each species, and a new laser needed to more efficiently load SrF into our traps. These proposed improvements allow us to build on our groupÕs pioneering work (funded currently by ARO and previously by AFOSR) in the laser cooling and trapping of molecules. As with that work, the techniques outlined here use proven methods from atomic physics, and extending their application to molecules could provide a revolutionary tool for the production of large samples of ultracold polar molecules.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 11, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1710172
Entities
People
- David DeMille
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- United States Army
- Yale University