A conveyor-belt magneto-optical trap of CaF
Achieving high-density samples of laser-cooled molecules is a critical step toward advancing applications in precision measurements, ultracold chemistry and quantum science. We report the experimental realization of a high-density conveyor-belt magneto-optical trap for calcium monofluoride (CaF) molecules. The obtained highly-compressed cloud has a mean radius of 64(5) μm and a peak number density of 3.6(5) × 10<sup>10</sup> cm<sup>-3</sup>, a 600-fold increase over the conventional red-detuned MOTs of CaF, and the densest molecular MOT observed to date. Subsequent loading of these molecules into an optical dipole trap yields up to 2.6 × 10<sup>4</sup> trapped molecules at a temperature of 14(2) μK with a peak phase-space density of ~ 2.4 × 10<sup>-6</sup>. This opens new possibilities for a range of applications utilizing high-density, optically trapped ultracold molecules.
Authors
- Kang-Kuen Ni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0537-0719)
- Grace K. Li
- Christian Hallas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0869-6500)
- Wolfgang Ketterle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9528-3044)
- Scarlett S. Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8364-8894)
- John M. Doyle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9793-7630)
- Yicheng Bao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0955-8567)
- Loïc Anderegg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4282-3369)
- Eunmi Chae
- Dongkyu Lim
- Jiaqi You
Institutions
- University of Southern California (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Korea University (KR)
- Princeton University (US)
- Harvard University Press (US)
- MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms (US)
- Korea University (JP)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-01-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67944-6
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 31.39
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Office of Science
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
- Center for Ultracold Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research