High phase-space density YO with microwave-shielding

Ultracold molecules are an emerging platform for applications in quantum simulation and chemistry, precision measurement, and information processing. Over the last decade, directly laser-cooled molecules have seen advances including magneto-optical trapping, sub-Doppler cooling and optical trapping at high densities. Two-body loss has emerged as a major barrier to precise quantum state preparation of these trapped molecules, necessitating the need for controlling inter-molecular interactions. Microwave-shielding is a proven approach, but it has not yet been applied to laser-cooled bulk molecular gases. In this poster, I will present our experimental progress on all these fronts using laser-cooled yttrium monoxide molecules.