Ro-vibrational cooling of diatomic molecules Cd₂ and Yb₂: rotational energy structure included

Abstract

Method of ro-vibrational cooling of Cd${}_2$ and Yb${}_2$ molecules occupying initially their excited ro-vibrational levels in the ground electronic state is proposed. The method employs the $c^3{1}_u\left(5^3{P}_2\right)\leftrightarrow X^1{0}_g^{+}\left(5^1{S}_0\right)$ and ${}^3{0}_u^{+}\left(6^3{P}_1\right)\leftrightarrow X^1{0}_g^{+}\left(6^1{S}_0\right)$ electronic transitions in Cd${}_2$ and Yb${}_2$, respectively. The cooling relies on a successive decrease of population of the ground-state vibrational ${\upsilon }^{″}$ and rotational $J^{″}$ levels using a series of laser-induced excitations from a selected ground-state (${\upsilon }^{″}$, $J^{″}$) to the excited-state (${\upsilon }^{\prime }={\upsilon }^{″}-1$, $J^{\prime }=J^{″}-1$) ro-vibrational levels, followed by spontaneous de-excitations to the ground state. The proposal is an extension of the vibrational cooling method recently proposed by Urbańczyk et al. [Mol. Phys. 116, 3475–3486 (2018)].

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Cadmium dimer
• ytterbium dimer
• ro-vibrational cooling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Centre Poland (Narodowe Centrum Nauki) [grant number UMO-2015/17/B/ST4/04016].