Optical cycling, radiative deflection and laser cooling of barium monohydride (¹³⁸Ba¹H)

We present the first experimental demonstration of radiation pressure force deflection and direct laser cooling for barium monohydride (BaH) molecules resulting from multiple photon scattering. Despite a small recoil velocity (2.7 mm s⁻¹) and a long excited state lifetime (137 ns), we use 1060 nm laser light exciting the X → A electronic transition of BaH to deflect a cryogenic buffer-gas beam and reduce its transverse velocity spread. Multiple experimental methods are employed to characterize the optical cycling dynamics and benchmark theoretical estimates based on rate equation models as well as solutions of the Lindblad master equation for the complete multilevel system. Broader implications for laser cooling and magneto-optical trapping of heavy-metal-containing molecules with narrow transition linewidths are presented. Our results pave the way for producing a new class of ultracold molecules—alkaline earth monohydrides—via direct laser cooling and trapping, opening the door to realizing a new method for delivering ultracold hydrogen atoms (Lane 2015 Phys. Rev. A 92, 022511). (paper)