Establishing a nearly closed cycling transition in a polyatomic molecule

We study optical cycling in the polar free radical calcium monohydroxide (CaOH) and establish an experimental path towards scattering >$10^4$ photons. We report vibrational branching ratio measurements with accuracy at the $\sim$$5 \times 10^{-4}$ level and observe weak symmetry-forbidden decays to bending modes with non-zero vibrational angular momentum. Quantitative theory is developed to explain these observations and predict additional decay pathways. Additionally, we perform high-resolution spectroscopy of the $\widetilde{\text{X}}\,^2\Sigma^+(12^00)$ and $\widetilde{\text{X}}\,^2\Sigma^+(12^20)$ hybrid vibrational states of CaOH. These advances establish a path towards radiative slowing, 3D magneto-optical trapping, and sub-Doppler cooling of CaOH.