Magneto-Optical Trapping of a Metal Hydride Molecule

TL;DR

This paper reports the first magneto-optical trapping of a metal hydride molecule, CaH, achieving ultracold temperatures and demonstrating potential for controlled dissociation and precision spectroscopy.

Contribution

It presents the first demonstration of a 3D MOT for a metal hydride molecule, CaH, with laser cooling and trapping techniques.

Findings

Trapped approximately 230 molecules in the MOT.

Achieved temperatures below one millikelvin.

Successfully slowed molecules using a white-light technique.

Abstract

We demonstrate a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT) of a metal hydride molecule, CaH. We are able to scatter $\sim$$10^{4}$ photons with vibrational loss covered up to vibrational quantum number $\nu=2$. This allows us to laser slow the molecular beam near zero velocity with a "white-light" technique and subsequently load it into a radio-frequency MOT. The MOT contains 230(40) molecules, limited by beam source characteristics and predissociative loss of CaH. The temperature of the MOT is below one millikelvin. The predissociative loss mechanism could, in turn, facilitate controlled dissociation of the molecule, offering a possible route to optical trapping of hydrogen atoms for precision spectroscopy.