New directions in direct laser cooling and trapping of diatomic molecules

In recent years, tremendous progress has been made in laser cooling and trapping of molecules. With the achievement of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the diatomic molecule SrF,\footnote{J. F. Barry \textit{et al.}, \textit{Nature} \textbf{512}, 286--289 (2014).} a range of novel experiments employing ultracold molecules may be within reach. Here we present planned improvements to our SrF MOT apparatus, including plans for more efficient MOT loading, sub-Doppler cooling, loading into a conservative trap, and co-trapping of atoms. These and other improvements should allow increases in trapped molecule number, lifetime, and phase-space density. We illustrate some of the experiments that will be enabled by these improvements, such as studies of inelastic and reactive atom-molecule collisions at ultracold temperatures and investigations of sympathetic and evaporative cooling of SrF.