Integration of a high finesse cryogenic build-up cavity with an ion trap.

We report on the realization of a hemispherical optical cavity with a finesse of F = 13 000 and sustaining inter-cavity powers of 10 kW, which we operate in a closed-cycle cryostat vacuum system close to 4 K. This was designed and built with an integrated radio-frequency Paul trap in order to combine optical and radio-frequency trapping. The cavity provides a power build-up factor of 2300.

Continuous Loading of Ultracold Ground-State ^{85}Rb_{2} Molecules in a Dipole Trap Using a Single Light Beam.

We have developed an approach to continuously load ultracold ^{85}Rb_{2} vibrational ground-state molecules into a crossed optical dipole trap from a magneto-optical trap. The technique relies on a single high-power light beam with a broad spectrum superimposed onto a narrow peak at an energy of about 9400  cm^{-1}. This single laser source performs all the required steps: the short-range photoassociation creating ground-state molecules after radiative emission, the cooling of the molecular vibrational population down to the lowest vibrational level v_{X}=0, and the optical trapping of these molecules.