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Accumulation of Stark-decelerated NH molecules in a magnetic trap

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  • Cold and ultracold molecules
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Abstract

Here we report on the accumulation of ground-state NH molecules in a static magnetic trap. A pulsed supersonic beam of NH (a1Δ) radicals is produced and brought to a near standstill at the center of a quadrupole magnetic trap using a Stark decelerator. There, optical pumping of the metastable NH radicals to the X3Σ− ground state is performed by driving the spin-forbidden A3Π ← a1Δ transition, followed by spontaneous A → X emission. The resulting population in the various rotational levels of the ground state is monitored via laser induced fluorescence detection. A substantial fraction of the ground-state NH molecules stays confined in the several milliKelvin deep magnetic trap. The loading scheme allows one to increase the phase-space density of trapped molecules by accumulating packets from consecutive deceleration cycles in the trap. In the present experiment, accumulation of six packets is demonstrated to result in an overall increase of only slightly over a factor of two, limited by the trap-loss and reloading rates.

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Author notes

  1. J. Riedel

    Present address: Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, Richard-Willstätter-Str. 11, 12489, Berlin, Germany

  2. S. Hoekstra

    Present address: Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Zernikelaan 25, 9747 AA, Groningen, The Netherlands

  3. S. Y. T. van de Meerakker

    Present address: Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heijendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    J. Riedel, S. Hoekstra, J. J. Gilijamse, S. Y. T. van de Meerakker & G. Meijer

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G2, Canada

    W. Jäger

Authors
  1. J. Riedel
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  2. S. Hoekstra
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  3. W. Jäger
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  4. J. J. Gilijamse
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  5. S. Y. T. van de Meerakker
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  6. G. Meijer
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Meijer.

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Riedel, J., Hoekstra, S., Jäger, W. et al. Accumulation of Stark-decelerated NH molecules in a magnetic trap. Eur. Phys. J. D 65, 161–166 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2011-20082-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2011-20082-7

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