Towards direct laser cooling of barium monofluoride

We report on an experiment aimed at direct laser cooling of BaF molecules for applications in cold chemistry and precision tests of fundamental symmetries. In an effort to realize such cooling, we have performed high-resolution absorption spectroscopy of the lowest rovibrational states. This has allowed us to characterize the cooling and repumping transitions for laser cooling, as well as to realize near background-free fluorescence imaging of a cold molecular beam. In addition to the experimental effort, we will present our theoretical progress in realizing efficient Doppler, sub-Doppler and coherent cooling schemes for both bosonic and fermionic isotopologues of BaF.