Progress towards laser cooling of AlCl

Novel applications for ultracold polar molecules include studies of many-body physics of quantum degenerate gases, quantum computing, precision measurements and tests of fundamental symmetries. Confining molecules in a magneto-optical trap is an ideal first step to apply subsequent cooling and trapping schemes to create an ultracold sample of molecules. While this approach has been used extensively with atoms, applying the same to molecules is challenging due to the presence of dark states which interrupt the photon cycle process. At present, a number of molecules has been identified to be suitable for laser cooling with AlCl being an excellent candidate with Franck-Condon factors of 99.88%. We produce a beam of AlCl via pulsed-laser ablation of a KCl:Al mixture target in a cryogenic buffer-gas beam source. Here, we will report on our progress towards applying laser slowing and cooling to the beam and discuss our theoretical model of the expected magneto-optical trap forces of AlCl. Furthermore, we will give an update on our setup to deposit and study thin films of AlCl, which could provide high-yield ablation precursors.