A Magneto-Optical Trap for Diatomic Molecules

The magneto-optical trap (MOT) has long been the workhorse for atomic physics and is a powerful technique to rapidly produce ultracold, densesamples of atoms. Extending this technique to produce cold, dense samples of a diverse set of molecules will revolutionize the study of strongly interacting quantum systems, precision measurement and physical chemistry. In this work we demonstrate transverse magneto-optical trapping, in 1D and 2D, of a YO molecular beam using a quasi-cycling transition and an oscillating quadrupole magnetic field. We will then report on progress made towards the realization of a 3 dimensional molecular MOT.