Cavity sideband cooling of trapped molecules

The efficiency of cavity sideband cooling of trapped molecules is theoretically investigated for the case in which the infrared transition between two rovibrational states is used as a cycling transition. The molecules are assumed to be trapped either by a radiofrequency or optical trapping potential, depending on whether they are charged or neutral, and confined inside a high-finesse optical resonator that enhances radiative emission into the cavity mode. Using realistic experimental parameters and COS as a representative molecular example, we show that in this setup, cooling to the trap ground state is feasible. © 2011 American Physical Society.