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Optoelectrical Cooling of Polar Molecules to Submillikelvin Temperatures

Alexander Prehn, Martin Ibrügger, Rosa Glöckner, Gerhard Rempe, and Martin Zeppenfeld
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 063005 – Published 10 February 2016
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Abstract

We demonstrate direct cooling of gaseous formaldehyde (H2CO) to the microkelvin regime. Our approach, optoelectrical Sisyphus cooling, provides a simple dissipative cooling method applicable to electrically trapped dipolar molecules. By reducing the temperature by 3 orders of magnitude and increasing the phase-space density by a factor of 104, we generate an ensemble of 3×105 molecules with a temperature of about 420μK, populating a single rotational state with more than 80% purity.

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  • Received 1 December 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.063005

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Synopsis

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Deep Freezing Molecules

Published 10 February 2016

Researchers cooled trapped molecules well below 1mK—a record temperature for molecules that have not been assembled from pre-cooled atoms.

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Authors & Affiliations

Alexander Prehn, Martin Ibrügger, Rosa Glöckner, Gerhard Rempe, and Martin Zeppenfeld*

  • Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Strasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany

  • *Martin.Zeppenfeld@mpq.mpg.de

See Also

Submillikelvin Dipolar Molecules in a Radio-Frequency Magneto-Optical Trap

E. B. Norrgard, D. J. McCarron, M. H. Steinecker, M. R. Tarbutt, and D. DeMille
Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 063004 (2016)

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Vol. 116, Iss. 6 — 12 February 2016

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