Magneto-optical trapping of a diatomic molecule

Understand

Laser cooling and trapping are central to modern atomic physics.

• The workhorse technique in cold-atom physics is the magneto-optical trap (MOT), which combines laser cooling with a restoring force from radiation pressure.
• For a variety of atomic species, MOTs can capture and cool large numbers of particles to ultracold temperatures (<1 mK); this has enabled the study of a wide range of phenomena from optical clocks to ultracold collisions whilst also serving as the ubiquitous starting point for further cooling into the regime of quantum degeneracy.
• Magneto-optical trapping of molecules could provide a similarly powerful starting point for the study and manipulation of ultracold molecular gases.