
Foreground: 399 nm “Zeeman Slowing” laser setup. Background: Science chamber and optical setup for creation of CsYb molecules

Vacuum Chamber. The molecules we use cannot exist in air and so we have to make them inside a vacuum chamber. The laser light enters through windows, the green/red enters from the front (molecules are traveling out of the picture as we see it) and the orange/red light enters from above and is reflected using mirrors to pass through the chamber 6 times, covering the vertical and horizontal axes.

Laser cooling of molecules requires a variety of wavelengths of light. The light exerts a force on the molecules which can be used to decelerate and trap them. For calcium fluoride molecules we need to use green, red and orange light. The green and red slow the molecules and the orange and red trap them.
Time lapse video showing the construction of the CsYb experiment