Sympathetic cooling and slowing of molecules with Rydberg atoms

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to slow and cool polar molecules using laser-cooled Rydberg atoms through elastic collisions, enabling efficient thermalization without photon scattering, applicable to complex molecules for advanced scientific applications.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new sympathetic cooling technique using Rydberg atoms that does not rely on photon scattering, suitable for complex molecules in low-density environments.

Findings

Molecules at 100 m/s can be stopped in under 30 collisions.

Large elastic collision cross sections enable efficient thermalization.

Method applicable to complex species without photon scattering.

Abstract

We propose to sympathetically slow and cool polar molecules in a cold, low-density beam using laser-cooled Rydberg atoms. The elastic collision cross sections between molecules and Rydberg atoms are large enough to efficiently thermalize the molecules even in a low density environment. Molecules traveling at 100 m/s can be stopped in under 30 collisions with little inelastic loss. Our method does not require photon scattering from the molecules and can be generically applied to complex species for applications in precision measurement, quantum information science, and controlled chemistry.