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Updated: May 1, 2026

Optical Trap Loading of Dielectric Microparticles In Air
Published on: February 5, 2017
Magnetic trapping of molecules via optical loading and magnetic slowing
Hsin-I Lu1, Ivan Kozyryev2, Boerge Hemmerling2
1School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA and Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Abstract:
Calcium monofluoride (CaF) is magnetically slowed and trapped using optical pumping. Starting from a collisionally cooled slow beam, CaF with an initial velocity of ∼ 30 m/s is slowed via magnetic forces as it enters a 800 mK deep magnetic trap. Employing two-stage optical pumping, CaF is irreversibly loaded into the trap via two scattered photons. We observe a trap lifetime exceeding 500 ms limited by background collisions. This method paves the way for cooling and magnetic trapping of chemically diverse molecules without closed cycling transitions.
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