title: Cavity cooling of internal molecular motion.
abstract: We predict that it is possible to cool rotational, vibrational, and translational degrees of freedom of molecules by coupling a molecular dipole transition to an optical cavity. The dynamics is numerically simulated for a realistic set of experimental parameters using OH molecules. The results show that the translational motion is cooled to a few muK and the internal state is prepared in one of the two ground states of the two decoupled rotational ladders in a few seconds. Shorter cooling times are expected for molecules with larger polarizability.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Fisica, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Morigi
authors.forename: Pepijn W H
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Pinkse
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kowalewski
authors.forename: Regina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Vivie-Riedle