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Low-temperature physics

A chilling effect for molecules

Nature volume 491, pages 539–540 (2012)Cite this article

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Cold and ultracold molecules provide fertile grounds for scientific discoveries. A method of cooling polyatomic molecules has been demonstrated that will allow researchers to explore the vast potential of these entities. See Letter p.570

The ability to trap atomic gases and cool them to ultracold temperatures (about 1 millikelvin or below) has led to revolutionary advances across a range of areas — including atomic clocks, quantum information processing and simulation of condensed-matter systems. The production of ultracold molecular gases is anticipated to have a similarly broad scientific impact. In this issue, Zeppenfeld et al.1 (page 570) demonstrate a novel method for cooling a trapped gas of polyatomic molecules. Their work substantially broadens the range of molecular species for which cooling is possible. It also demonstrates a powerful and generalizable method that may allow the production of even colder molecular gases, as required for most proposed applicationsFootnote 1.

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Figure 1: Optoelectrical molecular cooling scheme.

Notes

  1. *This article and the paper under discussion1 were published online on 14 November 2012.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. John F. Barry and David DeMille are in the Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.,

    John F. Barry & David DeMille

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  1. John F. Barry
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  2. David DeMille
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Correspondence to John F. Barry or David DeMille.

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Barry, J., DeMille, D. A chilling effect for molecules. Nature 491, 539–540 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11753

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