Reassessing the potential of TlCl for laser cooling experiments via four-component correlated electronic structure calculations

TL;DR

This study uses advanced electronic structure calculations to reassess TlCl's suitability for laser cooling, finding a much shorter excited state lifetime than previously thought, which improves its cooling prospects.

Contribution

The paper applies four-component correlated electronic structure methods to accurately estimate TlCl's excited state lifetime, demonstrating its potential for laser cooling applications.

Findings

TlCl's excited state lifetime is estimated at 175 ns, much shorter than earlier predictions.

Results for TlF closely match experimental data, validating the computational approach.

TlCl could have cooling properties comparable to TlF, with potential for enhanced optical cycling.

Abstract

The TlCl molecule has previously been investigated theoretically and proposed as promising candidates for laser cooling searches [X. Yuan et. al. J. Chem. Phys., 149, 094306, 2018]. From these results, the cooling process, which would proceed by transitions between a\sup{3}{\Pi}\sup{+}\sub{0} and X\sup{1}{\Sigma}\sup{+}\sub{0} states, had as potential bottleneck the long lifetime (6.04 {\mu}s) of the excited state a\sup{3}{\Pi}\sup{+}\sub{0} , that would prohibit experimentally control the slowing region. Here, we revisit this system by employing four-component Multireference Configuration Interaction (MRCI) calculations, and investigate the effect of such approaches on the calculated transition moments between a\sup{3}{\Pi}\sup{+}\sub{0} and a\sup{3}{\Pi}\sub{1} excited states of TlCl as well as TlF, the latter serving as a benchmark between theory and experiment. Wherever possible, MRCI results have been cross-validated by, and turned out to be consistent with, four-component equation of motion coupled-cluster (EOM-CC) and polarization propagator (PP) calculations. We find that the results of TlF are very closed to experiment values, while for TlCl the lifetime of the a3{\Pi}+0 state is now estimated to be 175 ns, which is much shorter than previous calculations indicated, thus yielding a different, more favorable cooling dynamics. By solving the rate-equation numerically, we provide evidence that TlCl could have cooling properties similar to those of TlF. Our investigations also point to the potential benefits of enhancing the stimulated radiation in optical cycle to improve cooling efficiency.