2012/02/25 by J. Shen, Jie Shen, A. Borodin +3
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Angular momentum #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Atomic physics #Chemistry #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Dipole #Dissociation (chemistry) #Excitation #Excited state #Ion #Laser #Molecule #Optics #Physics #Polyatomic ion #Rotational temperature #Rotational transition #Rotational–vibrational spectroscopy #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #physics.atom-ph #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.85.032519
published as Phys. Rev. A 85, 032519 (2012)
arxiv created 2012/02/25 · openalex publication_date 2012/03/29 · arxiv updated 2013/11/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We demonstrate rotational excitation of molecular ions that are sympathetically cooled by laser-cooled atomic ions to a temperature as low as approximately 10 mK. The molecular hydrogen ions HD+ and the fundamental rotational transition (v=0,\phantom\rule0.16em0exN=0)\ensuremath→(v^\ensuremath'=0,\phantom\rule0.16em0exN^\ensuremath'=1) at 1.3 THz, the most fundamental dipole-allowed rotational transition of any molecule, are used as a test case. This transition has not been observed before. Rotational laser cooling was employed in order to increase the signal, and resonance-enhanced multiphoton dissociation was used as detection method. The black-body-radiation-induced rotational excitation is also observed. The extension of the method to other molecular species is briefly discussed.