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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 16: Posters 3: Novelties in Molecular Physics

MO 16.17: Poster

Mittwoch, 25. März 2015, 17:00–19:00, C/Foyer

Rotational state detection of trapped polyatomic molecules — •Alexander Prehn, Rosa Glöckner, Martin Ibrügger, Martin Zeppenfeld, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748 Garching

Many applications of cold and ultracold molecules benefit from the ability to detect internal states. Well established detection schemes (e.g. REMPI, LIF) often rely on excitations of electronic states which can lead to rapid predissociation, especially for many polyatomic molecular species, limiting their use.

Here, we present an alternative method based on depletion of molecules in selected rotational states from our electric trap [1]. The narrow electric field distribution inside the trap [2] allows us to spectroscopically address the desired states and couple them to untrapped states, thus removing their population from the trap. The difference of signals with and without depletion then constitutes the state selective molecule signal. We investigate two schemes exploiting rotational and/or vibrational transitions to detect sets of rotational states. Experimental data obtained with methyl flouride (CH₃F) agrees nicely with rate equation models examining the dynamics of the process [2]. Additionally, we show signals originating from population in a single M-sublevel of a rotational state |J,K,M ⟩. We expect our method to work for a large number of molecular species.

[1] B.G.U. Englert et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 263003 (2011).
[2] R. Glöckner et al., arXiv:1411.7860 (2014).