A laser cooling scheme for precision measurements using barium monofluoride (137Ba19F) molecules

TL;DR

This paper proposes a laser cooling scheme for 137BaF molecules, enabling precise measurements of fundamental physics phenomena by overcoming complex hyperfine structures with feasible experimental methods.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework for laser cooling of 137BaF molecules, addressing their complex hyperfine structure and demonstrating feasible optical cycling and sub-Doppler cooling techniques.

Findings

Optical cycling and sub-Doppler cooling are achievable in 137BaF.

Bichromatic forces can be utilized for molecular manipulation.

Feasible experimental conditions are identified for laser cooling.

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the laser cooling of fermionic barium monofluoride (137BaF) molecules, which are promising candidates for precision studies of weak parity violation and nuclear anapole moments. This molecular species features two nuclear spins, resulting in a hyperfine structure that is considerably more complicated than the one found in the usual laser-cooled diatomics. We use optical Bloch equations and rate equations to show that optical cycling, sub-Doppler cooling and bichromatic forces can all be realized under realistically achievable experimental conditions.