A new experiment is currently being built to cool CaF molecules to quantum degeneracy. The experiment utilises several techniques to maximise the number of molecules that reach the MOT capture velocity, including magnetic lensing, transverse cooling of the molecular beam, and laser slowing via an optical molasses. With around 107 molecules captured in the MOT, these will then be transferred to an Optical Dipole Trap, where evaporative cooling will be induced, compressing the thermal distribution of molecules and achieving quantum degeneracy.
With many molecules trapped for up to fifty seconds at micro-Kelvin temperatures in a single quantum state, experiments can be performed that up to now have proven elusive, including the direct study of the few-body and many-body behaviours of a quantum degenerate dipolar gas. In addition, experiments involving the inelastic and elastic collisions between ultracold dipolar molecules and atoms can be investigated.