Deceleration of a Supersonic Beam of SrF Molecules to 120 m s-1

Sreekanth C Mathavan; Artem Zapara; Quinten Esajas; Steven Hoekstra

doi:10.1002/cphc.201600813

Deceleration of a Supersonic Beam of SrF Molecules to 120 m s^-1

Chemphyschem. 2016 Nov 18;17(22):3709-3713. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201600813. Epub 2016 Oct 28.

Authors

Sreekanth C Mathavan¹, Artem Zapara¹, Quinten Esajas¹, Steven Hoekstra¹

Affiliation

¹ Van Swinderen Institute, University of Groningen, Zernikelaan 25, 9747, AA, Groningen, The Netherlands.

PMID: 27791326
DOI: 10.1002/cphc.201600813

Abstract

A beam of SrF molecules is decelerated from 290 to 120 m s^-1 . Following supersonic expansion, the molecules in the X² Σ (ν=0, N=1) low-field-seeking state are trapped by the moving potential wells of a traveling-wave Stark decelerator. With a deceleration strength of 9.6 km s^-2 the removal of 85 % of the initial kinetic energy in a 4 m-long modular decelerator is demonstrated. The absolute amount of kinetic energy removed is a factor of 1.5 higher compared to previous Stark-deceleration experiments. The demonstrated decelerator provides a novel tool for the creation of highly collimated and slow beams of heavy diatomic molecules, which serve as a good starting point for high-precision tests of fundamental physics.

Keywords: Stark deceleration; cold molecules; heavy molecules; molecular beams; supersonic expansion.