Frankfurt 2006 – scientific programme
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MO: Molekülphysik
MO 52: Cold molecules I
MO 52.7: Talk
Thursday, March 16, 2006, 12:25–12:40, H10
Magnetic trapping of buffer gas loaded atoms and molecules — •Michael Stoll1,2, Joost M. Bakker1,2, Gerard Meijer1, and Achim Peters2 — 1Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany — 2Department for Quantum Optics and Metrology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
We report on the successful buffer-gas loading and trapping of atomic Chromium in a quadrupole magnet using a 3He-4He dilution refrigerator. The technique to buffer gas cool neutral molecules can provide samples of cold molecules with very high densities. Such dense samples of ultracold molecules can form a starting point for a large variety of experiments. Among these are the formation of a molecular quantum gas, ultra-high resolution spectroscopic measurements to test fundamental physics and the study of interactions between ultracold molecules. In the present experiment chromium atoms have been trapped for periods of minutes.
We observed densities exceeding 1013 particles per cm3 and temperatures below 400mK. Trap loss is mainly due to evaporative cooling of the isolated sample. These results constitute the first successful buffer-gas loading experiment in Europe, and the extension of the technique to load and trap neutral polar molecules is readily foreseen.