Design of a biased Stark trap of molecules that move adiabatically in an electric field

Shafer-Ray, Neil; Milton, Kimball A.; Furneaux, Brendan; Abraham, E.; Kalbfleisch, G.

doi:10.1103/physreva.67.045401

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…They are rather deep (on the order of 1 K), and by changing the electrode geometries or the applied voltages, a variety of trapping potentials can be created. 12a, 18,[30][31][32][33][34] The ability to trap molecules in their hfs states is of special importance because all molecular ground states as well as the majority of states of larger molecules are hfs. This is important for techniques that provide further cooling such as evaporative cooling, a key step in reaching quantum degeneracy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Linear AC Trap for Polar Molecules in Their Ground State

et al. 2007

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A linear AC trap for polar molecules in high-field seeking states has been devised and implemented, and its characteristics have been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The trap is loaded with slow 15 ND 3 molecules in their ground state (para-ammonia) from a Stark decelerator. The trap's geometry offers optimal access as well as improved loading. We present measurements of the dependence of the trap's performance on the switching frequency, which exhibit a characteristic structure due to nonlinear resonance effects. The molecules are found to oscillate in the trap under the influence of the trapping forces, which were analyzed using 3D numerical simulations. On the basis of expansion measurements, molecules with a velocity and a position spread of 2.1 m/s and 0.4 mm, respectively, are still accepted by the trap. This corresponds to a temperature of 2.0 mK. From numerical simulations, we find the phase-space volume that can be confined by the trap (the acceptance) to be 50 mm 3 (m/s) 3 .

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Linear AC Trap for Polar Molecules in Their Ground State

et al. 2007

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“…This type of magnetostatic trap is now widely known as the Ioffe-Pritchard (IP) trap.For trapped polar molecules, losses due to nonadiabatic transitions have not been experimentally reported upon yet. Nevertheless, several possible geometries for an electrostatic analogue of an IP-type trap have been suggested to prevent these possible losses, such as a chain-linked trap [16] or a six-wire trap [17]. More recently, a trap with an electric field offset in the center has been demonstrated for Rydberg atoms [18].…”

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confidence: 99%

Nonadiabatic transitions in electrostatically trapped ammonia molecules

et al. 2009

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Nonadiabatic transitions are known to be major loss channels for atoms in magnetic traps but have thus far not been experimentally reported upon for trapped molecules. We have observed and quantified losses due to nonadiabatic transitions for three isotopologues of ammonia in electrostatic traps by comparing the trapping times in traps with a zero and a nonzero electric field at the center. Nonadiabatic transitions are seen to dominate the overall loss rate even for the present samples that are at relatively high temperatures of 30 mK. It is anticipated that losses due to nonadiabatic transitions in electric fields are omnipresent in ongoing experiments on cold molecules. The recent development of a large variety of methods and devices for the manipulation and trapping of neutral polar molecules offers new opportunities for molecular physics experiments ͓1͔. Decelerated beams and trapped samples of polar molecules can be used to study intrinsic molecular properties, such as energy level splittings ͓2,3͔ and lifetimes of metastable states ͓4,5͔, with unprecedented precision. Once the densities of the trapped molecules become high enough and their temperatures become low enough, the intermolecular interactions are anticipated to enable interesting new studies and applications ͓6,7͔. For all these studies it is not only of importance to increase the phase-space density of the trapped molecules but also to increase the time during which the molecules can stay confined in the trap, i.e., to reduce the trap loss processes. Neutral polar molecules in low-field seeking states are routinely trapped in magnetostatic or electrostatic traps by exploiting the Zeeman or Stark effect, respectively ͓8,9͔. These traps typically exhibit zero field at the trap center. Within a certain area around the trap center, the trapped molecules can undergo nonadiabatic transitions, widely also referred to as spin flip or Majorana transitions, from a trapped state into a state in which the molecules are no longer trapped. In atomic physics, nonadiabatic transitions in quadrupole magnetic traps seriously hindered the generation of the first Bose-Einstein condensates, as these spin flips made it impossible to reach the required ultracold regime ͓10,11͔. The trap losses associated with the presence of the zero field at the trap center were eliminated by implementing the time-averaged orbiting potential ͑TOP͒ trap on the one hand ͓12͔ and by keeping the atoms away from the trap center with an optical plug on the other hand ͓13͔. Generally, trap loss due to nonadiabatic transitions can be completely suppressed by creating a nonzero field minimum in the trap center. Already in 1962, Ioffe introduced a special variant of a magnetostatic trap with a field offset in the center for nuclear physics experiments ͓14͔. Pritchard ͓15͔ suggested in 1983 to use such a trap for the confinement of neutral atoms. This type of magnetostatic trap is now widely known as the Ioffe-Pritchard ͑IP͒ trap.For trapped polar molecules, losses due to nonadiabatic transitio...

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“…Lead monofluoride is particularly interesting because of the predicted large sensitivity of the ground state to an electron electric dipole moment [10] (e-EDM) and its small g-factor [11,12]. This leads to the possibility of a long coherence measurement in an electrostatic trap [13,14] or beam resonance cavity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%