Heidelberg 2015 – scientific programme

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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik

MO 21: Posters 4: Novelties in Molecular Physics

MO 21.16: Poster

Thursday, March 26, 2015, 17:00–19:00, C/Foyer

Fabrication of Microstructures by Optical Lithography for Electric Trapping of Polar Molecules — •Martin Ibrügger, Markus Krottenmüller, Alexander Prehn, Rosa Glöckner, Martin Zeppenfeld, and Gerhard Rempe — Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1, 85748

Polar molecules cooled to cold and ultracold temperatures offer a wide range of exciting applications ranging from quantum simulation to controlled chemistry. For such experiments, providing a suitable environment to confine the molecules is often essential. For this purpose, a unique design for an electric trap based on confining molecules between a pair of microstructured capacitor plates [1] has allowed us to achieve record-long trap lifetimes [2] and to cool the molecules’ motional and rotational degrees of freedom [3,4].

To further improve the properties of our trap, we are currently investigating the in-house fabrication of the trap microstructures based on well-known optical lithography techniques combined with chemical wet etching. Here, we in particular aim for a good high voltage performance combined with minimal surface charges. We present details of our fabrication method as well as the results from high voltage tests.

[1] M. Zeppenfeld et al., Phys. Rev. A 80, 041401 (2009).

[2] B.G.U. Englert et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 263003 (2011).

[3] M. Zeppenfeld et al., Nature 491, 570-573 (2012).

[4] R. Glöckner et al., submitted (2015).