SAMOP 2021 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 8: Cold Molecules

MO 8.4: Talk

Friday, September 24, 2021, 11:30–11:45, H1

Towards Zeeman slowing of Molecules — Mariia Stepanova, •Paul Kaebert, Timo Poll, Maurice Petzold, Supeng Xu, Mirco Siercke, and Silke Ospelkaus — Institute of Quantum Optics, Leibniz University Hannover

Ultracold molecules are a promising tool for studying fundamental physics, realizing novel states of matter, and investigating chemical reactions with unprecedented control. Currently the field of ultracold molecules is making great experimental progress in these areas, but experiments using direct laser cooling of molecules remain limited by the number of ultracold particles they have access to. To increase this number, we have proposed a novel slowing method for molecules, reminiscent of the Zeeman slower for atoms. Here, we present our progress towards realizing such a molecular Zeeman slower. We show results from our recent characterization of the slowing force by measuring the photon scattering rate of a molecular beam moving perpendicular to the Zeeman slowing lasers. This configuration gives us a very narrow velocity-spread of the molecules, enabling us to extract the velocity dependence of the force. Our measurements are in excellent agreement with a simple rate equation model and demonstrate that the resulting force profile is capable of compressing the molecular velocity distribution from a standard buffer gas cell down to velocities necessary for trapping in a Magneto-optical Trap (MOT).