Optimization of Pulsed-Laser Ablation Production of Aluminum Monochloride for Laser Cooling and Trapping

Ultracold dipolar molecules provide opportunities for a variety of areas of fundamental research and novel technology, including precision measurements of fundamental constants, searching for new physics, such as the electron electric dipole moment, quantum simulation of many-body systems, quantum information processing and controlled chemical reactions. In recent years, magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of several species of molecules has been demonstrated. Ab-initio calculations and high resolution spectroscopy show that aluminum monochloride (AlCl) has highly diagonal Frank-Condon factors of 99.88%[1], which make it an excellent candidate for laser cooling and trapping. In addition to good photon scattering properties, it is paramount for any application to create high densities of the molecule of interest in the gas phase.

Here, we present our work and results on the optimization of pulsed-laser ablation production of AlCl molecules in a cryogenic buffer-gas beam source and progress towards a slow beam and MOT of AlCl. In particular, we discuss our studies on the ablation yields of various precursors for AlCl, including AlCl3 and mixtures of KCl:Al, NaCl:Al, CaCl2:Al, MgCl2:Al with different molar ratios[2].