Bonn 2025 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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SYLC: Symposium Laser-cooled Molecules
SYLC 1: Laser-cooled Molecules
SYLC 1.4: Hauptvortrag
Freitag, 14. März 2025, 12:30–13:00, HS 1+2
Progress in laser cooling the AlF molecule — •Sidney Wright — Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin
The aluminium monofluoride molecule (AlF) is a promising candidate for laser cooling and trapping at high densities. Its principal A1Π ← X1Σ+ laser cooling transition is highly vibrationally diagonal, extremely intense, and quantum mechanical selection rules permit rapid optical cycling on any Q(J) line with a single laser. Akin to the alkaline earth atoms, AlF possesses singlet and triplet manifolds, and the lowest energy a3Π state is metastable. The radiative lifetimes of the a3Π levels are between two and several hundred milliseconds, and the spin-forbidden a3Π ← X 1Σ+ transition presents a toolbox for highly precise spectroscopy and coherent manipulation of the molecule.
In this talk, I will give a status report on our work to laser cool AlF and load it into a magneto-optical trap. Whilst the principal laser cooling wavelength near 227.5 nm is challenging, technology is rapidly advancing to overcome this limitation. We are able to laser slow molecules in different rotational states to below 40 m/s, which is around our expected capture velocity for a magneto-optical trap. In addition, the chemical stability of AlF enables realising a slow, continuous molecular beam using a high temperature thermochemical reaction in combination with buffer gas cooling. Moreover, we can generate a transient, room temperature molecular vapour using a simple dispenser source. Together, these set AlF apart from most other molecules that are amenable to laser cooling.
Keywords: Aluminium monofluoride; Laser cooling