Laser cooling and trapping of YO

POSTER

Abstract

Using microwave mixing of rotational states and only two vibrational repump lasers, we implement a cycling transition in the yttrium (II) monoxide (YO) molecule that is closed to the 10$^6$ level. With this cycling transition, a beam of YO from a two-stage cryogenic buffer gas cell is decelerated by the slowing lasers with broadband modulation and frequency chirping. The resulting decelerated molecules (less than 10 m/s) are slow enough to be loaded into a magneto-optical trap. We present progress towards loading into our radio frequency (5 MHz) MOT.

Authors

  • Shiqian Ding

    • Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore
    • JILA, University of Colorado Boulder

  • Alejandra Collopy

    • JILA, University of Colorado Boulder

  • Yewei Wu

    • JILA, University of Colorado Boulder

  • Eunmi Chae

    • Harvard University

  • Aakash Ravi

    • Harvard University

  • Loic Anderegg

    • Harvard University

  • Benjamin Augenbraun

    • Harvard University

  • John Doyle

    • Harvard University

  • Jun Ye

    • JILA, University of Colorado Boulder