Stuttgart 2012 – scientific programme
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 13: Poster 1: Cold Molecules, Femtosecond Spectroscopy, Molecular Dynamics
MO 13.6: Poster
Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 16:30–19:00, Poster.IV
Cold molecular collisions with merged beams — •Ana Isabel Gonzalez Florez1, Janneke Blokland1, Henrik Haak1, Nicolas Vanhaecke1, Sebastiaan Y T van de Meerakker2, and Gerard Meijer1 — 1Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany — 2Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Beams of Stark-decelerated molecules have proven to be versatile in studying collisions between atoms and molecules at low collision energies. In these crossed-beam experiments the minimal collision energy was limited to 50 cm−1 by the center-of-mass kinetic energy of the atoms (50 cm−1), hampering the observation of resonances in the scattering cross-section that are predicted to occur at lower energies.
Currently we are developing a set up to collide merged beams of atoms and Stark-decelerated molecules to reach collision energies down to 5 cm−1. We use a curved hexapole to guide Stark-decelerated molecules, such as metastable CO or ND3, in order to merge them with a beam of He atoms. The He atoms are injected through vacuum with an Even-Lavie valve and cooled down with a cold head. The relative velocity between the two beams can be varied by changing the final velocity of the Stark-decelerated molecules, thus changing the collision energy. Finally, the molecules can be state-selectively detected using (1+1) or (2+1) REMPI, in case of CO or ND3 respectively.