Periodic Reporting for period 1 - coolDips (Direct cooling of dipolar molecules)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2017-05-01 do 2019-04-30
However, the complexity that makes molecules so interesting also makes them extraordinarily challenging to cool. The goal of the project was to investigate laser cooling, which is a powerful technique to cool atoms to ultracold temperatures. This technique relies on a closed cycling transition, on which many photons from a laser beam can be scattered to realize significant forces. Such cycling transitions naturally occur in many atoms. However, in molecules, they are much more scarce, and it is first necessary to identify and characterize suitable molecular energy levels, selection rules, and potential leakage out of the cycle.
The goal of this project was to address exactly these points. The research tasks performed were thus highly challenging and only a few groups worldwide have been able to address similar questions so far. The skills and techniques cultivated by the researcher and students on the project are thus highly valuable for European society and economy.
Our results have been disseminated to the scientific community at a large number of international conferences and meetings. Moreover, we have participated in many outreach activities to promote our research to younger physics and highschool students (e.g. through lab tours and the Quantum Futur Akademie 2018 in Stuttgart), non-expert scientists (e.g. through an article in the German “Physik Journal” or the participation in interdisciplinary meetings) and the general public (e.g. through labtours and social media).
On a wider scale, the researcher has promoted quantum science to the general public. Moreover, several students mentored by the researcher have already, or are planning to apply the skills they were able to learn to new questions in the private sector. This supports the European leadership in high-tech industrial applications, in particular with respect to the emerging industrial application of quantum effects.