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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 16: Cold Molecules II
MO 16.1: Talk
Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 14:30–14:45, BAR Schön
A Molecular Synchrotron — •Peter C. Zieger1, Sebastiaan Y. T. van de Meerakker1, Hendrick L. Bethlem2, André J. A. van Roij3, and Gerard Meijer1 — 1Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany — 2Laser Centre Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands — 3Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
With a Stark decelerator it is possible to produce beams of cold neutral polar molecules with a tunable velocity that are well suited for molecular beam scattering studies. One can load these beams into a molecular synchrotron; this offers particularly interesting prospects for these kinds of scattering experiments. In principle, a storage ring allows for the confinement of multiple packets of molecules that repeatedly interact in a circle, thereby, significantly increasing the sensitivity of molecular collision experiments. We present a molecular synchrotron consisting of 40 straight hexapoles that allows the simultaneous confinement of multiple packets moving clockwise and counter clockwise. We will explain the operation principle of the synchrotron and present our latest experiment, where multiple molecular packets are confined over a flight length of one mile [1]. Recently a second Stark decelerator beamline was built to enable the injection of multiple counter-propagating packets in the synchrotron. These measurements epitomize the level of control that can now be achieved over molecular beams and brings a low-energy molecular collider within close reach.
[1] P.C. Zieger, S.Y.T. van de Meerakker, C.E. Heiner, H.L. Bethlem, A.J.A. van Roij, G. Meijer, PRL 105, 173001 (2010)