Hannover 2020 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 52: Cold Molecules II (joint session Q/MO)

Q 52.4: Talk

Thursday, March 12, 2020, 15:00–15:15, f442

Progress on Zeeman slowing of CaF — •Mariia Stepanova, Paul Kaebert, Timo Poll, Maurice Petzold, Supeng Xu, Mirco Siercke, and Silke Ospelkaus — Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany

Experiments with ultracold molecules promise to have a large impact on many fields of physics such as quantum simulations and computation, metrology and ultracold chemistry. Due to the complex energy level structure of molecules, direct laser cooling yields a relatively low number of particles that can be trapped. In this talk I will present a novel method of direct slowing of molecules, reminiscent of Zeeman slowing of atoms, which promises a significant increase in flux of slow molecules. I will show data from a proof-of-principle experiment using the D1-line of 39K, demonstrating the efficiency of the method. Comparing our proof-of-principle results shows a flux and slowing efficiency comparable to traditional D2-line Zeeman slowing, and a factor of ~20 increase in flux below 35m/s compared to white-light slowing. I will also highlight the newest developments in our experiment such as our efforts on implementing a chemical cell for molecule production in reaction of ablated Ca and SF6 gas. This will be followed up by our latest results in measurement of the CaF hyperfine structure as well as the Zeeman splitting in CaF energy levels at high magnetic fields.