Ab initio study of the feasibility of laser cooling of ScO molecule

ABSTRACT

Using ab initio quantum chemistry method, the feasibility of laser cooling ScO was investigated. The ground state Χ²Σ⁺ and low-lying excited states Α²Π, Α′²Δ are calculated at the multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) level of theory. The calculated spectroscopic constants are in good agreement with available theoretical and experimental results. At the MRCI level of theory with Davidson correction, the permanent dipole moments of the Χ²Σ⁺ and Α²Π states of ScO are also calculated. The highly diagonally distributed Franck–Condon factors and shorter radiative lifetime for the Α²Π→Χ²Σ⁺ transition are calculated with the corresponding potential energy curves and transition dipole moment. Although there is an intermediate state Α′²Δ, the loss will be dominated by branching to the intermediate electronic state Α′²Δ at a level of η < 1.4 × 10⁻⁴. These results demonstrate the probability of laser cooling of ScO, and we provide a promising laser-cooling scheme for ScO molecule.

KEYWORDS:

• Laser cooling
• Franck–Condon factors
• radiative lifetime

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the anonymous referee for valuable comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.