Broadband optical cooling of molecular rotors from room temperature to the ground state
| Autor: | Jason H. V. Nguyen, Christopher M. Seck, Y.-W. Lin, Chien-Yu Lien, David Tabor, Brian Odom |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
Multidisciplinary
Materials science Resolved sideband cooling Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) FOS: Physical sciences Physics::Optics General Physics and Astronomy General Chemistry Molecular rotors General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Physics - Atomic Physics Raman cooling Nuclear magnetic resonance Laser cooling Broadband Broadband laser Molecule Physics::Atomic Physics Physics::Chemical Physics Atomic physics Ground state |
| Popis: | Laser cycling of resonances can remove entropy from a system via spontaneously emitted photons, with electronic resonances providing the fastest cooling timescales because of their rapid spontaneous relaxation. Although atoms are routinely laser-cooled, even simple molecules pose two interrelated challenges for cooling: every populated rotational-vibrational state requires a different laser frequency, and electronic relaxation generally excites vibrations. Here we cool trapped AlH(+) molecules to their ground rotational-vibrational quantum state using an electronically exciting broadband laser to simultaneously drive cooling resonances from many different rotational levels. Undesired vibrational excitation is avoided because of vibrational-electronic decoupling in AlH(+). We demonstrate rotational cooling on the 140(20) ms timescale from room temperature to 3.8(-0.3)(+0.9) K, with the ground-state population increasing from ~3 to 95.4(-2.1)(+1.3)%. This cooling technique could be applied to several other neutral and charged molecular species useful for quantum information processing, ultracold chemistry applications and precision tests of fundamental symmetries. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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