Münster 2017 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 51: Instrumentation XII

HK 51.9: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 30. März 2017, 18:45–19:00, F 072

Production of polarized molecules — •Hani M. Awwad — HHU, Düsseldorf, Deutschland

The payoff for a breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy would be massive, because it could provide an almost endless supply of clean energy. However research has proven to be incredibly complicated and expensive. One way of significantly reducing size and cost of the fusion devices could be the use of polarized fuel, which is known to increase the cross section of fusion reactions by 50%. Furthermore the plasma could be more easily controlled, as emission directions of fusion products can be manipulated.

This is just one reason for the growing interest in polarized molecules. In the discussed experiment (supported by DFG/RSF grant BU 2227) an atomic beam source produces polarized atoms, which then recombine to polarized molecules in a storage cell. Next the polarization of the molecules is measured in a Lamb-Shift polarimeter. Another interesting aspect is the temperature dependence of their rotational states. J=0 molecules can possibly be frozen out and stored for later use. One way to make use of them is to build polarized targets e.g. for storage rings or laser acceleration of polarized protons.

Generally understanding the nuclear spin can grant new insights in chemical reactions and may also find more applications in biology or medicine.