Cavity sideband cooling of trapped molecules

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates cavity sideband cooling of trapped molecules using IR transitions, demonstrating feasibility of cooling molecules to their ground state with realistic experimental setups.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for cavity sideband cooling of molecules, highlighting the potential for ground state cooling with practical experimental parameters.

Findings

Cooling to the trap ground state is feasible.

High-finesse optical resonator enhances radiative emission.

Realistic parameters demonstrate practical implementation.

Abstract

The efficiency of cavity sideband cooling of trapped molecules is theoretically investigated for the case where the IR transition between two rovibrational states is used as a cycling transition. The molecules are assumed to be trapped either by a radio-frequency or optical trapping potential, depending on whether they are charged or neutral, and confined inside a high-finesse optical resonator which enhances radiative emission into the cavity mode. Using realistic experimental parameters and COS as a representative molecular example, we show that in this setup cooling to the trap ground state is feasible.