2019/06/30 by Ralf Albrecht, Michael Scharwaechter, Tobias Sixt +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph #cond-mat.quant-gas #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.101.013413
published as Phys. Rev. A 101, 013413 (2020) · 11 pages, 7 figures
arxiv created 2020/01/10 · arxiv updated 2020/01/13
We demonstrate buffer-gas cooling, high-resolution spectroscopy and cycling fluorescence of cold barium monofluoride (BaF) molecules. Our source produces an intense and internally cold molecular beam containing the different BaF isotopologues with a mean forward velocity of 190 m/s. For a well-collimated beam of 138BaF we observe a flux of more than 1e10 molecules/sr/pulse in the X2Sigma, N=1 state in our downstream detection region. Studying the absorption line strength of the intermediate A'Delta state we infer a lifetime of 790+\-346 ns, significantly longer than previously estimated. Finally, highly-diagonal Franck-Condon factors and magnetic remixing of dark states allow us to realize a quasi-cycling transition in 138BaF that is suitable for future laser cooling of this heavy diatomic molecule.