Optical stimulated slowing of polar heavy-atom molecules with a constant beat phase

Abstract

Polar heavy-atom molecules have been well recognized as promising candidates for precision measurements and tests of fundamental physics. A much slower molecular beam to increase the interaction time should lead to a more sensitive measurement. Here we theoretically demonstrate the possibility of the stimulated longitudinal slowing of heavy-atom molecules by the coherent optical bichromatic force with a constant beat phase. Taking the YbF meolecule as an example, we show that a rapid and short-distance deceleration of heavy molecules by a phase-compensation method is feasible with moderate conditions. A molecular beam of YbF with a forward velocity of 120 m/s can be decelerated below 10 m/s within a distance of 3.5 cm and with a laser irradiance for each traveling wave of 107.2 W/cm$^2$. We also give a simple approach to estimate the performance of the BCF on some other heavy molecules, which is helpful for making a rapid evaluation on the feasibility of the stimulated slowing experiment. Our proposed slowing method could be a promising approach to break through the space constraint or the limited capture efficiency of molecules loadable into a MOT in traditional deceleration schemes, opening the possibility for a significant improvement of the precision measurement sensitivity.