SAMOP 2023 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 4: Cold Molecules (joint session MO/Q)

Q 4.1: Talk

Monday, March 6, 2023, 11:00–11:15, F102

A Continuous Source of Aluminium Monofluoride Molecules — •Maximilian Doppelbauer¹, Sidney C. Wright¹, Simon Hofsäss¹, José Eduardo Padilla-Castillo¹, Sebastian Kray¹, Russell Thomas¹, Boris Sartakov¹, Stefan Truppe^1,2, and Gerard Meijer¹ — ¹Molecular Physics, Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany — ²Centre for Cold Matter, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom

The aluminium monofluoride (AlF) molecule is a unique candidate for laser cooling and trapping experiments. As a starting point, we require a high-density molecular source. In our original setup, we can generate AlF by reaction of laser-ablated aluminium atoms with NF₃ in a pulsed cryogenic buffer gas source with more than 10¹² molecules per steradian per ablation shot. By exploiting the reaction of AlF₃ and Al in a UHV oven above 600^∘C, we can generate a continuous thermal AlF beam with a total brightness of about 10¹⁶ molecules per steradian per second.

In this contribution, we present spectroscopic information on vibrational levels up to v″=4 and rotational levels to above J″=80 in the X¹Σ⁺ electronic ground state that we obtained using the oven source as well as first experiments laser cooling AlF.