Adiabatic passage methods in cooling trapped molecular ions.

Different adiabatic passage methods are applied as part of a state mapping scheme in multilevel trapped systems. The aim is to achieve full population transfer from the rotational states of a trapped molecular ion to its translational states. Our analysis is based on numerical simulations with the master equation. We discuss how the resolved sideband condition, and spontaneous emission have an adverse effect on the efficiency for stimulated Raman adiabatic passage. Use of adiabatic rapid passage techniques, with two-photon Raman transitions results in higher efficiencies that can exceed 97%.