• Accepted Paper

Capture velocities for direct loading of heavy molecules into conveyor-belt magneto-optical traps

Shoukang Yang, Shuhua Deng, Zixuan Zeng, and Bo Yan

Phys. Rev. A - Accepted 10 November, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/qddl-ptd3

Abstract

Conveyor-belt magneto-optical traps (CB-MOTs) use blue-detuned polarization-gradient forces to provide simultaneous cooling, confinement, and loading on type-II molecular transitions. Recent experiments with 138BaF showed that this mechanism can directly load a slowed molecular beam with an efficiency exceeding that of a conventional red-detuned MOT. Here we use stablished optical-Bloch-equation force calculations and classical trajectory propagation to ask whether this direct-loading strategy should extend beyond the specific molecule used in the first demonstration. For 138BaF, the calculation reproduces the experimentally observed trend that the CB-MOT capture velocity increases with laser intensity. We then apply the same framework to two closely related but experimentally distinct cases: , whose dense hyperfine structure complicates a conventional dual-frequency MOT, and , whose narrower linewidth and longer wavelength reduce the available radiative force. In both cases, the CB-MOT retains a broad region of nonzero capture velocity. These results identify the molecular conditions under which direct CB-MOT loading should remain effective and show that such a configuration provides a practical loading route for heavy laser-coolable molecules whose MOT performance is otherwise limited by photon recoil, scattering rate, or hyperfine complexity.

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