A laser cooling scheme for precision measurements using barium monofluoride (137Ba19F) molecules

Abstract

We theoretically investigate the laser cooling of fermionic barium monofluoride ( 137 BaF) molecules, which are promising candidates for precision studies of weak parity violation and nuclear anapole moments. This molecular species features two nuclear spins, resulting in a hyperfine structure that is considerably more complicated than the one found in the usual laser-cooled diatomics. We use optical Bloch equations and rate equations to show that optical cycling, sub-Doppler cooling and bichromatic forces can all be realized under realistically achievable experimental conditions.