Erlangen 2018 – scientific programme
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 17: Posters 2: Cold Molecules and Clusters
MO 17.4: Poster
Wednesday, March 7, 2018, 16:15–18:15, Orangerie
Laser induced fluorescence detection of ultracold formaldehyde — •Martin Ibrügger, Alexander Prehn, Maximilian Löw, Martin Zeppenfeld, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748 Garching
Ultracold molecules offer ideal perspectives for a variety of exciting applications. Proposed experiments range from the investigation of ultracold chemistry over quantum simulation to high-precision spectroscopy. Optoelectrical Sisyphus cooling has proven to be capable to provide a sizeable number of 3·105 molecules of formaldehyde (H2CO) at temperatures below 1 mK [1]. However, in the past the experiment has suffered from a low detection efficiency of the quadrupole mass spectrometer employed for counting the molecules, thus severely increasing measurement times.
Here, we present a scheme for continuous detection of formaldehyde based on laser induced fluorescence (LIF). Molecules are electronically excited by a UV-laser and successively fluoresce. No cycling transition is available due to bad Franck-Condon overlap and thus light collection optics covering a large solid angle is mandatory. We present techniques to reduce stray light by many orders of magnitude in order to allow for a high signal to noise ratio. This setup should enable detection of formaldehyde with a sensitivity increased by about a factor of 30 and thus bring many of the proposed applications within reach and open up the way for fascinating new experiments.
[1] A. Prehn et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 063005 (2016).