Laser cooling of molecules

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in laser cooling of molecules, highlighting the principles, technological developments, and current status of the field, which enables ultracold molecular physics research despite molecular complexity.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the principles, technological progress, and current status of laser cooling of molecules, a field that has advanced significantly since the 1980s.

Findings

Laser cooling of molecules has been successfully realized despite their complex structures.

Development of laser technology has been crucial for progress in molecular laser cooling.

The field is rapidly growing with potential applications in quantum physics.

Abstract

A recent progress on laser cooling of molecules is summarized. Since the development during 1980s for atomic species, laser cooling has been the very beginning step to cool and trap atoms for frontier research on quantum simulations, quantum sensing and precision measurements. Despite the complex internal structures of molecules, laser cooling of molecules have been realized with the deepened understanding of molecular structures and interaction between light and molecules. The development of laser technology over the last decades have also been a great aid for laser cooling of molecules because many lasers are necessary to successfully cool the molecules. A detailed principle and development of laser cooling of molecules as well as the current status of the field are reviewed to give an introductory of the growing field of ultracold molecular physics.