Broadband laser spectral control for pumping cold molecules

• Grant number: 23/06732-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2023
• End date: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Principal Investigator: Luis Gustavo Marcassa
• Grantee: Jaime Javier Borges Marquez
• 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. Our objective, in this project, is the construction of an optical system capable of modeling the spectrum of a broadband laser system with great precision using a VIPA (virtually imaged phased array). This system will be used for pumping and cooling Rb2 molecules, which project is a collaboration between the Brazilian experimental group at USP-SC and the French theoretical team at the Aime-Cotton Laboratory (LAC).