Abstract

Ultracold molecules play an important role in quantum information processing, astrochemistry, high-resolution spectroscopy, cold collisions and cold chemistry. Major quantum effects and new quantum phases are expected in the ultracold regime. The preparation of cold molecules, however, is still challenging. Due to the absence of closed transitions in molecules, classical laser cooling schemes, which are enormously successful with atoms, are not suitable for molecules. Beyond the well established nonoptical cooling methods [1, 2], only few laser cooling methods have been proposed taking into account the details of the internal molecular structure [3, 4].

© 2009 IEEE