Stark deceleration of CaF molecules in strong- and weak-field seeking states

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the Stark deceleration of CaF molecules in both strong- and weak-field seeking states using two different decelerator types, and discusses potential enhancements via laser cooling.

Contribution

It presents the first comparison of conventional and alternating gradient Stark decelerators for CaF molecules in different quantum states.

Findings

Successful deceleration of CaF molecules in both states

Comparison of decelerator performance for different states

Discussion of laser cooling to improve phase-space density

Abstract

We report the Stark deceleration of CaF molecules in the strong-field seeking ground state and in a weak-field seeking component of a rotationally-excited state. We use two types of decelerator, a conventional Stark decelerator for the weak-field seekers, and an alternating gradient decelerator for the strong-field seekers, and we compare their relative merits. We also consider the application of laser cooling to increase the phase-space density of decelerated molecules.