Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 25: Cold Molecules II (gemeinsam mit Q)

MO 25.8: Talk

Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 16:00–16:15, 6B

Trapping ground-state molecules — •Melanie Schnell, Jacqueline van Veldhoven, Peter Lützow, Bretislav Friedrich, Hendrick Bethlem, and Gerard Meijer — Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin

Trapping of neutral molecules in high-field seeking states is important since the absolute molecular ground state and most of the states of heavier molecules with small rotational constants are high-field seeking. When molecules are trapped in their absolute ground state with a high enough density and the trap depth can be varied, increasing their phase-space density via evaporative cooling will be possible, as trap loss due to inelastic collisions can be avoided. This is one important step towards the realization of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate. Another application is located in the field of high-resolution spectroscopy. Due to the long interaction times of the trapped molecules with the electromagnetic radiation an increased resolution in the spectroscopic experiment can be reached.

Trapping ground state molecules, however, is challenging since the realization of a maximum of a static electric field in free space is not possible. It can be achieved using time-dependent fields. One approach is to employ dynamic confinement using switched electric fields (AC trap). So far, both a cylindrically symmetric and a linear AC trap have been realized. We will present our newest results on AC trapping, which include the characterization of the two traps, and we will discuss some future applications of AC trapping of ground state molecules.