Efficient sympathetic motional ground-state cooling of a molecular ion

TL;DR

This paper presents an optimized, robust method for sympathetic motional ground-state cooling of molecular ions, combining pulsed Raman sideband cooling with continuous quench cooling, effective even outside the Lamb-Dicke regime.

Contribution

It introduces a novel cooling scheme that enhances speed and robustness for molecular ions, advancing quantum control techniques for precision applications.

Findings

Achieved efficient ground state cooling of $^{24} ext{MgH}^+$ ions.

Demonstrated cooling outside the Lamb-Dicke regime.

Combined pulsed Raman sideband cooling with continuous quench cooling effectively.

Abstract

Cold molecular ions are promising candidates in various fields ranging from precision spectroscopy and test of fundamental physics to ultra-cold chemistry. Control of internal and external degrees of freedom is a prerequisite for many of these applications. Motional ground state cooling represents the starting point for quantum logic-assisted internal state preparation, detection, and spectroscopy protocols. Robust and fast cooling is crucial to maximize the fraction of time available for the actual experiment. We optimize the cooling rate of ground state cooling schemes for single $^{25}\mathrm{Mg}^{+}$ ions and sympathetic ground state cooling of $^{24}\mathrm{MgH}^{+}$. In particular, we show that robust cooling is achieved by combining pulsed Raman sideband cooling with continuous quench cooling. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrate an efficient strategy for ground state cooling outside the Lamb-Dicke regime.