title: Magneto-optical trap for polar molecules.
abstract: We propose a method for laser cooling and trapping a substantial class of polar molecules and, in particular, titanium (II) oxide (TiO). This method uses pulsed electric fields to nonadiabatically remix the ground-state magnetic sublevels of the molecule, allowing one to build a magneto-optical trap based on a quasicycling J' = J'' -1 transition. Monte Carlo simulations of this electrostatically remixed magneto-optical trap demonstrate the feasibility of cooling TiO to a temperature of 10 micrpK and trapping it with a radiation-pumping-limited lifetime on the order of 80 ms.
authors.affiliation: JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440, USA. stuhl@jila.colorado.edu
authors.forename: Benjamin K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Stuhl
authors.forename: Brian C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.forename: Dajun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye