Direct laser cooling the NH molecule with the pseudo-closed loop triplet-triplet transition including intervening electronic states

The effect of spin-orbit coupling on molecular properties: Potential energy curve, transition dipole moment and laser cooling scheme of NH

The influence of spin-orbit coupling on the cooling of NH molecular laser is investigated based on the ab initio theory. The potential energy curves (PECs) and spectral constants for four Λ-S states (X³Σ^-, a¹Δ, b¹Σ⁺ and A³Π) and eight Ω states [Formula: see text] a¹Δ₂, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] ) of NH molecule are obtained by the multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI) plus Davidson correction. The spectroscopic constants (R_e, ω_e, ω_eχ_e, B_e, D_e) are obtained by solving the one dimensional radial Schrödinger equation, and the results are almost the same as the previously reported data. In addition, the transition dipole moment, permanent dipole moment, Franck-Condon factors, and radiative lifetime of NH molecule are also acquired. Also, the effects of the intermediate state on the [Formula: see text] , [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] transitions are considered. The feasible laser cooling schemes using a single laser are formulated. In the proposed cooling scheme, there wavelengths for the [Formula: see text] are used, the main pump lasers are λ₀₀ = 335.74 nm. The feasible transition is based on this. It is found that spin-orbit coupling has a significant effect on potential energy curves, permanent dipole moments, transition dipole moments and vibration energy levels.

Excellent Ultracold Molecular Candidates From Group VA Hydrides: Whether Do Nearby Electronic States Interfere?

By means of highly accurate ab initio calculations, we identify two excellent ultracold molecular candidates from group VA hydrides. We find that NH and PH are suitable for the production of ultracold molecules, and the feasibility and advantage of two laser cooling schemes are demonstrated, which involve different spin-orbit states (A 3 Π 2 andX 3 Σ 1 - ). The internally contracted multireference configuration interaction method is applied in calculations of the six low-lying Λ-S states of NH and PH with the spin-orbit coupling effects included, and excellent agreement is achieved between the computed and experimental spectroscopic data. We find that the locations of crossing point between theA 3 Π andΣ - 5 states of NH and PH are higher than the corresponding v' = 2 vibrational levels of theA 3 Π state indicating that the crossings with higher electronic states would not affect laser cooling. Meanwhile, the extremely small vibrational branching loss ratios of theA 3 Π 2 →a 1 Δ 2 transition for NH and PH (NH: 1.81 × 10-8; PH: 1.08 × 10-6) indicate that thea 1 Δ 2 intermediate electronic state will not interfere with the laser cooling. Consequently, we construct feasible laser-cooling schemes for NH and PH using three lasers based on theA 3 Π 2 →X 3 Σ 1 - transition, which feature highly diagonal vibrational branching ratioR 00 (NH: 0.9952; PH: 0.9977), the large number of scattered photons (NH: 1.04×105; PH: 8.32×106) and very short radiative lifetimes (NH: 474 ns; PH: 526 ns). Our work suggests that feasible laser-cooling schemes could be established for a molecular system with extra electronic states close to those chosen for laser-cooling.

Uncertainty of High Temperature Heat Capacities: The Case Study of the NH Radical

The difficulties in calculation of high temperature heat capacities and discrepancies between available data are discussed in the case of the NH molecule. The source of those inaccuracies are the underlining potential energy curves. The relevant partition functions and heat capacities are calculated with the classical Wigner-Kirkwood corrected method. In addition to the ground electronic state, also four excited states are taken into account. Two potential energy curves and experimental energy levels of the ground state are considered.