@article{Zhang:2022:10.1016/j.jms.2022.111625,
author = {Zhang, C and Zhang, C and Cheng, L and Steimle, TC and Tarbutt, MR},
doi = {10.1016/j.jms.2022.111625},
journal = {Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy},
title = {Inner-shell excitation in the YbF molecule and its impact on laser cooling},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jms.2022.111625},
volume = {386},
year = {2022}
}

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TY  - JOUR
AB  - The YbF molecule is a sensitive system for measuring the electron’s electric dipole moment. The precision ofthis measurement can be improved by direct laser cooling of the molecules to ultracold temperature. However,low-lying electronic states arising from excitation of a 4f electron may hinder laser cooling. One set of these ‘‘4fhole’’ states lies below the 212 excited state used for laser cooling, and radiative decay to these intermediatelevels, even with branching ratios as small as 10−5, can be a hindrance. Other 4f hole states lie very close tothe 212 state, and a perturbation results in states of mixed character that are involved in the laser coolingcycle. This perturbation may enhance the loss of molecules to states outside of the laser cooling cycle. Wemodel the perturbation of the 212 state to determine the strength of the coupling between the states, thede-perturbed potential energy curves, and the radiative branching ratios to various vibrational levels of theground state, 2+. We use electronic structure calculations to characterize the 4f hole states and the strengthsof transitions between these states and the 212 and 2+ states. We identify a leak out of the cooling cyclewith a branching ratio of roughly 5 × 10−4, dominated by the contribution of the ground state configurationin a 4f hole state. Finally, we assess the impact of these results for laser cooling of YbF and molecules withsimilar structure.
AU  - Zhang,C
AU  - Zhang,C
AU  - Cheng,L
AU  - Steimle,TC
AU  - Tarbutt,MR
DO  - 10.1016/j.jms.2022.111625
PY  - 2022///
SN  - 0022-2852
TI  - Inner-shell excitation in the YbF molecule and its impact on laser cooling
T2  - Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jms.2022.111625
UR  - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000797332600005&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=a2bf6146997ec60c407a63945d4e92bb
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jms.2022.111625
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/107337
VL  - 386
ER  - 

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