Wallquist, MargaretaRabl, PeterLukin, MikhailZoller, Peter2012-01-202008Wallquist, Margareta, Peter Rabl, Mikhail D. Lukin, and Peter Zoller. 2008. Theory of cavity-assisted microwave cooling of polar molecules. New Journal of Physics 10(6): 063005.1367-2630http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8000897We analyze cavity-assisted cooling schemes for polar molecules in the microwave domain, where molecules are excited on a rotational transition and energy is dissipated via strong interactions with a lossy stripline cavity, as recently proposed by André et al 2006 Nat. Phys. 2 636. We identify the dominant cooling and heating mechanisms in this setup and study cooling rates and final temperatures in various parameter regimes. In particular, we analyze the effects of a finite environment temperature on the cooling efficiency, and find minimal temperature and optimized cooling rate in the strong drive regime. Further, we discuss the trade-off between efficiency of cavity cooling and robustness with respect to ubiquitous imperfections in a realistic experimental setup, such as anharmonicity of the trapping potential.en-USatomic physicsmolecular physicsquantum physicsJournal Article2012-01-2010.1088/1367-2630/10/6/063005