Cold and Controlled Molecular Beams: Production and Applications

Abstract

The field of cold molecules has become an important source of new insight in fundamental chemistry and molecular physics. High-resolution spectroscopy benefits from translationally and internally cold molecules by increased interaction times and reduced spectral congestion. Completely new effects in scattering dynamics become accessible with cold and controlled molecules. Many of these experiments use molecular beams as a starting point for the generation of molecular samples. This review gives an overview of methods to produce beams of cold molecules, starting from supersonic expansions or effusive sources, and provides examples of applications in spectroscopy and molecular dynamics studies.

A buffer gas beam source for short, intense and slow molecular pulses

“…A variety of applications in physics and chemistry call for molecules cooled to low temperatures (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). The starting point for many experiments with cold molecules is the pulsed molecular beam.…”

Multistage Zeeman decelerator for molecular-scattering studies

“…Since the first experimental demonstration of Stark deceleration in 1998 [1], several decelerators ranging in size and complexity have been constructed [2][3][4]. Applications of these controlled molecular beams are found in high-resolution spectroscopy, the trapping of molecules at low temperature, and advanced scattering experiments that exploit the unprecedented state-purity and/or velocity control of the packets of molecules emerging from the decelerator [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Communication: Importance of rotationally inelastic processes in low-energy Penning ionization of CHF3

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] In recent years, detailed investigation of scattering processes has attracted considerable interest in particular in the context of cold molecule formation and trapping. 9,10 Recent experimental developments have opened the route to investigations of molecular scattering in supersonic expansions at collision energies substantially below 10 K. 5,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] The collision energy depends on the relative velocity of the reactants. In a molecular beams experiment this is determined not just by individual beam speeds but also by the angle between them.…”