Improved Radio-Frequency Magneto-Optical Trap of SrF Molecules

We report the production of ultracold, trapped strontium monofluoride (SrF) molecules with number density and phase-space density significantly higher than previously achieved. These improvements are enabled by three distinct changes to our recently-demonstrated scheme for radio-frequency magneto-optical trapping of SrF: modification of the slowing laser beam geometry, addition of an optical pumping laser, and incorporation of a compression stage to the magneto-optical trap. With these improvements, we observe a trapped sample of SrF molecules at density 2.5×10⁵  cm^-3 and phase-space density 6×10^-14 , each a factor of 4 greater than in previous work. Under different experimental conditions, we observe trapping of up to 10⁴ molecules, a factor of 5 greater than in previous work. Finally, by reducing the intensity of the applied trapping light, we observe molecular temperatures as low as 250 μK.