Production and manipulation of cold molecules

• Grant number: 22/16904-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: June 01, 2023
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Principal Investigator: Luis Gustavo Marcassa
• Grantee: David Rodríguez Fernández
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/04107-0 - Collisions in a Cold Trapped Molecular Sample in a well-defined quantum state: COCOTRAMOS, AP.TEM

Abstract

The research field of ultracold molecules (T<<1mK) is continuously expanding in many directions, involving an increasing number of groups around the world. Molecules at ultra-cold temperatures move at very small speeds and therefore can be precisely controlled in their quantum state. Unfortunately, until recently, laser cooling could not be easily applied to molecules because they generally lack proper closed optical transitions, as in atomic systems: their complex internal structure, which includes vibration and rotation, prevents them from transferring cooling devices and deceleration known from atomic physics, except for a very restricted class of molecular species. This work is the continuation of a long and successful collaboration between the Brazilian experimental group at USP-SC and the French theoretical team at the Aime-Cotton Laboratory (LAC). The main objective of the current proposal is to join our efforts to further refine laser cooling and to invent new cooling schemes that take into account the unique characteristics of the molecular structure and produce a dense sample of the absolute ground state of trapped Rb2 molecules. Once achieved this goal, we intend to study bimolecular collisions.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

FERNANDEZ, DAVID RODRIGUEZ; TORRES, MANUEL ALEJANDRO LEFRAN; CARDOSO, MARCOS ROBERTO; KONDO, JORGE DOUGLAS MASSAYUKI; SAFFMAN, MARK; MARCASSA, LUIS GUSTAVO. Affordable medium-finesse optical cavity for diode laser stabilization. APPLIED PHYSICS B-LASERS AND OPTICS, v. 130, n. 4, p. 11-pg., 2024-04-01. (18/06835-0, 19/10971-0, 21/04107-0, 21/06371-7, 19/23510-0, 22/16904-5)