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Published on: March 30, 2017
High Compression Blue-Detuned Magneto-Optical Trap of Polyatomic Molecules
Christian Hallas1, Grace K Li1, Nathaniel B Vilas1
1Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Harvard University, Department of Physics, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA and , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
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We demonstrate a blue-detuned magneto-optical trap (MOT) of a polyatomic molecule, calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). We identify a novel MOT frequency configuration that produces high spatial compression of the molecular cloud. This high compression MOT achieves a cloud radius of 59(5) μm and a peak density of 8(2)×10^{8} cm^{-3}. We experimentally compare several blue-detuned MOT schemes for CaOH and find good agreement between our data and Monte Carlo simulations.

