Universal deceleration of highly polar molecules

• Published in: New journal of physics 2015-04, Vol.17 (4), p.45018
• Main Authors: Hamamda, Mehdi, Pillet, Pierre, Lignier, Hans, Comparat, Daniel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 34.60.+z; 37.10.Mn; Anions; Atomic beams; cold molecular beam; Deceleration; Electric dipoles; Electric fields; Electron transfer; Photodetachment; Physics; Rydberg
• ISSN: 1367-2630; 1367-2630
• DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/17/4/045018

We propose a method to produce, in a pulsed or continuous way, cold samples of highly polar molecules. Using a pulsed or continuous standard (supersonic) beam of these molecules, our idea consists of transforming the molecules into their anionic counterparts, which are decelerated to a standstill by a well-controlled external electric field and ultimately neutralized. The neutral-to-anion transformation occurs through collisions with Rydberg atoms coming from an additional atomic beam. This Rydberg electron transfer process is possible provided that the molecular species has a sufficiently strong electric dipole ( D, i.e., cm). Whatever the mass of the species, the deceleration stage is realized by a temporally and spatially controlled electric field within a range of less than one centimeter, which is much shorter than in current deceleration experiments of neutral molecules. Once stopped, the molecular anions are neutralized by laser photodetachment or a pulsed electric field process. The resulting molecules might be held and accumulated, for instance, in a magnetic trap.