Developing an experiment to make Bose-Einstein condensates of CAF molecules
Author(s)
Wu, Jing
Type
Thesis
Abstract
Ultracold dipolar molecular quantum gases have great potential in the study of many-body quantum systems because of their long-range dipole-dipole interactions,
and they are of special importance in precise measurement of fundamental physics such as the electron’s electric dipole moment and searches for varying fundamental constants. They are also important for research in quantum chemistry, and may be an interesting future platform for quantum computation. This thesis presents the development of an apparatus to make Bose-Einstein condensates of CaF molecules. A two stage cryogenic buffer gas source is used to produce CaF beams with a mean velocity of 150 - 200 m/s, and an intensity of 3.2 × 1010/sr/pulse. The molecules are slowed down to the capture velocity of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) with a direct laser slowing method. A few thousand molecules are captured in the MOT, where they cool to about 1 mK. The last part of the thesis describes the next steps in the experiment: Sub-Doppler cooling, optical dipole trap and evaporative cooling to BEC in the presence of collisional shielding.
and they are of special importance in precise measurement of fundamental physics such as the electron’s electric dipole moment and searches for varying fundamental constants. They are also important for research in quantum chemistry, and may be an interesting future platform for quantum computation. This thesis presents the development of an apparatus to make Bose-Einstein condensates of CaF molecules. A two stage cryogenic buffer gas source is used to produce CaF beams with a mean velocity of 150 - 200 m/s, and an intensity of 3.2 × 1010/sr/pulse. The molecules are slowed down to the capture velocity of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) with a direct laser slowing method. A few thousand molecules are captured in the MOT, where they cool to about 1 mK. The last part of the thesis describes the next steps in the experiment: Sub-Doppler cooling, optical dipole trap and evaporative cooling to BEC in the presence of collisional shielding.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2024-09-29
Date Awarded
01/02/2025
License URL
Advisor
Tarbutt, Michael R
Publisher Department
Physics
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)