Berlin 2014 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 13: Posters 3: Cold Molecules, Helium Nano Droplets, and Experimental Techniques

MO 13.13: Poster

Mittwoch, 19. März 2014, 16:30–18:30, Spree-Palais

ULTRA-TENUOUS ROTATIONAL BUFFER GAS COOLING OF COULOMB-CRYSTALLIZED MGH+ — Anders K. Hansen¹, •Oscar O. Versolato^2,3, Łukasz Kłosowski⁴, Simon B. Kristensen¹, Alex D. Gingell¹, Maria Schwarz^2,3, Alexander Windberger², Joachim Ullrich³, José R. Crespo López-Urrutia², and Michael Drewsen¹ — ¹QUANTOP, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Denmark — ²Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany — ³Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig, Germany — ⁴Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland

The preparation of cold molecules is of particular interest for studies of cold chemistry, astrophysics, as well as for fundamental physics. Recent progress in direct laser cooling methods has shown great promise, but these methods are extremely molecule-specific. Buffer gas cooling in multipole traps, although universally applicable, also has significant drawbacks because of the high densities required. Here, we present for the first time results of tenuous helium buffer gas cooling of the rotational degrees of freedom of MgH+ molecular ions at 4-5 orders of magnitude lower pressure than in typical buffer gas settings. The MgH+ ions were sympathetically laser cooled into a Coulomb crystal after which very efficient buffer gas cooling was performed, reaching a record-low molecular ion internal temperature. Effective tuning of the temperature between 7 and 60K, by changing micromotion amplitudes, was demonstrated. Tenuous buffer gas cooling should also enable studies on cold single, heavy molecules of biological interest.