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    Direct Loading of BaF Molecules with a Conveyor-Belt Magneto-optical Trap

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

    • Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Quantum Chips and Quantum Control, School of Physics, and State Key Laboratory for Extreme Photonics and Instrumentation, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

    • *Contact author: yanbohang@zju.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 073402 – Published 19 February, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pd77-s994

    Abstract

    We report the realization of a blue-detuned magneto-optical trap (BDM) of BaF molecules. The (1+1) type BDM and (1+2) type conveyor-belt MOT (CB-MOT) are explored. While the (1+1) BDM provides only a weak trapping force, the CB-MOT significantly compresses the molecular cloud, achieving a Gaussian rms width of 316  μm, a temperature of 240  μK, and a peak number density of 2.4×107  cm−3. This performance marks two orders of magnitude improvement over red-detuned MOTs. More importantly, we demonstrate the efficient direct loading of the CB-MOT from a slowed molecular beam, surpassing the loading efficiency of the standard dual-frequency MOT. This surprising result is attributed to the dipole-force-dominated trapping mechanism, wherein the capture velocity increases continuously with laser power, unimpeded by the saturation limit of photon scattering. This method is particularly advantageous for laser cooling and trapping challenging molecular species with large mass, small photon recoil, and narrow linewidths.

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