Subkelvin Cooling NO Molecules via "Billiard-like" Collisions with Argon

Elioff, Michael S.; Valentini, James J.; Chandler, David W.

doi:10.1126/science.1090679

Cited by 165 publications

(144 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…), significant effort has been put into developing improved atomic beam sources [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Work on developing cold molecular sources has recently been a particularly active field of research [8][9][10][11][12][13]. As with atoms, one of the aims is to produce quantum degenerate gases, including those comprising strongly interacting electric dipoles [14 -16].…”

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confidence: 99%

High-Flux Beam Source for Cold, Slow Atoms or Molecules

et al. 2005

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We demonstrate and characterize a high-flux beam source for cold, slow atoms or molecules. The desired species is vaporized using laser ablation, then cooled by thermalization in a cryogenic cell of buffer gas. The beam is formed by particles exiting a hole in the buffer gas cell. We characterize the properties of the beam (flux, forward velocity, temperature) for both an atom (Na) and a molecule (PbO) under varying buffer gas density, and discuss conditions for optimizing these beam parameters. Our source compares favorably to existing techniques of beam formation, for a variety of applications.

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confidence: 99%

High-Flux Beam Source for Cold, Slow Atoms or Molecules

et al. 2005

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“…Transferring the rotational population from a high-J state to a lower rotational state is interesting in the context of the production of cold molecular samples. The production of translationally cold NO molecules was shown by Chandler and co-workers [20]. In that experiment, a translationally cold sample of NO molecules results from inelastic collisions with argon atoms.…”

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confidence: 99%

Evolutionary optimization of rotational population transfer

et al. 2011

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We present experimental and numerical studies on control of rotational population transfer of NO(J = 1/2) molecules to higher rotational states. We are able to transfer 57% of the population to the J = 5/2 state and 46% to J = 9/2, in good agreement with quantum mechanical simulations. The optimal pulse shapes are composed of pulse sequences with delays corresponding to the beat frequencies of states on the rotational ladder. The evolutionary algorithm is limited by experimental constraints such as volume averaging and the finite laser intensity used, the latter to circumvent ionization. Without these constraints, near-perfect control (>98%) is possible. In addition, we show that downward control, moving molecules from high to low rotational states, is also possible.

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“…Such atoms will remain in the laser-molecular beam interaction zone and after a time delay, these 'photostopped' atoms will be isolated from others. This method for producing atoms of low translational energy is closely related to the kinematic cooling of NO molecules 16 , in which inelastic collisions, rather than photodissociation recoil, are used to cancel the COM velocity. The present work builds on previous demonstrations of the principles applied to NO 2 photodissociation for production of photostopped NO molecules 17,18 .…”

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confidence: 99%

Production of cold bromine atoms at zero mean velocity by photodissociation

Doherty

Bell

Softley

et al. 2011

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys.

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The production of a translationally cold (T o 1 K) sample of bromine atoms with estimated densities of up to 10 8 cm À3 using photodissociation is presented. A molecular beam of Br 2 seeded in Kr is photodissociated into Br + Br* fragments, and the velocity distribution of the atomic fragments is determined using (2 + 1) REMPI and velocity map ion imaging. By recording images with varying delay times between the dissociation and probe lasers, we investigate the length of time after dissociation for which atoms remain in the laser focus, and determine the velocity spread of those atoms. By careful selection of the photolysis energy, it is found that a fraction of the atoms can be detected for delay times in excess of 100 ms. These are atoms for which the fragment recoil velocity vector is directly opposed and equal in magnitude to the parent beam velocity leading to a resultant lab frame velocity of approximately zero. The FWHM velocity spreads of detected atoms along the beam axis after 100 ms are less than 5 ms À1 , corresponding to temperatures in the milliKelvin range, opening the possibility that this technique could be utilized as a slow Br atom source.

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Subkelvin Cooling NO Molecules via "Billiard-like" Collisions with Argon

Cited by 165 publications

References 27 publications

High-Flux Beam Source for Cold, Slow Atoms or Molecules

High-Flux Beam Source for Cold, Slow Atoms or Molecules

Evolutionary optimization of rotational population transfer

Production of cold bromine atoms at zero mean velocity by photodissociation

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