ac Electric Trap for Ground-State Molecules

Veldhoven, J. van; Bethlem, Hendrick L.; Meijer, Gerard

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.94.083001

Cited by 127 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…A recent theoretical study has shown that sympathetic cooling of CaD( 2 ) and OH( 2 ) molecules in low-field-seeking Zeeman states may be facilitated by superimposed electric and magnetic fields [21]. We note that certain trapping techniques employing ac electric [22], optical dipole [23], or microwave [24] fields, allow for trapping ground-state molecules, thereby eliminating the possibility of collisional relaxation. At their present stage of development, however, these techniques are less advanced than magnetic or electrostatic trapping [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collisional properties of cold spin-polarized nitrogen gas: Theory, experiment, and prospects as a sympathetic coolant for trapped atoms and molecules

et al. 2010

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We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of collision-induced dipolar relaxation in a cold spin-polarized gas of atomic nitrogen (N). We use buffer gas cooling to create trapped samples of 14 N and 15 N atoms with densities (5 ± 2) × 10 12 cm −3 and measure their magnetic relaxation rates at milli-Kelvin temperatures. These measurements, together with rigorous quantum scattering calculations based on accurate ab initio interaction potentials for the 7 + u electronic state of N 2 demonstrate that dipolar relaxation in N + N collisions occurs at a slow rate of ∼10 −13 cm 3 /s over a wide range of temperatures (1 mK to 1 K) and magnetic fields (10 mT to 2 T). The calculated dipolar relaxation rates are insensitive to small variations of the interaction potential and to the magnitude of the spin-exchange interaction, enabling the accurate calibration of the measured N atom density. We find consistency between the calculated and experimentally determined rates. Our results suggest that N atoms are promising candidates for future experiments on sympathetic cooling of molecules.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collisional properties of cold spin-polarized nitrogen gas: Theory, experiment, and prospects as a sympathetic coolant for trapped atoms and molecules

et al. 2010

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confidence: 99%

“…3D trapping by 3 phase electric dipole fields [20] or by an oscillating hexapole field superimposed on a static homogeneous field [21] has been proposed. The latter scheme has recently been demonstrated in trapping cold polar molecules [22].Here we consider 3D electrodynamic trapping with two-phase electric-dipole field, which will allow planar geometry that is suitable to be used with atom chips [23]. In order to illustrate the scheme, we first assume two spherical electrodes with radius b placed at ±d either on the x (or y) axis, kept at voltages ±V 0 as shown in …”

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confidence: 99%

Electrodynamic Trapping of Spinless Neutral Atoms with an Atom Chip

et al. 2006

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Three dimensional electrodynamic trapping of neutral atoms has been demonstrated. By applying time-varying inhomogeneous electric fields with micron-sized electrodes, nearly 10 2 strontium atoms in the 1 S0 state have been trapped with a lifetime of 80 ms. In order to design the electrodes, we numerically analyzed the electric field and simulated atomic trajectories in the trap, which showed reasonable agreement with the experiment.PACS numbers: 32.60. +I, 32.80.Pj, 39.25.+k Coherent manipulation of atoms or ions in the vicinity of solid surfaces has attracted increasing interest as a promising tool for quantum information processing (QIP), because of their potential scalability and controllability of atoms or ions that work as qubits [1,2,3,4]. So far, two approaches, i.e., magnetic manipulation of atoms with miniaturized wire traps [5,6] and miniature Paul traps [1] for ions, have been demonstrated. Recent experiments, however, have witnessed that coherence time of these trapped atoms or ions was shortened by electro-magnetic interactions caused by thermal magnetic fields [7,8,9,10] or fluctuating patch potentials [12] appeared on the surface if the distance between the particle and the surface become smaller than 100 µm. To avoid these harmful influences and have a lifetime nearly a second, paramagnetic atoms need to be more than tens of microns apart from metal surfaces at room temperature [7,8,9,10]. A reported heating rate of ions [12] indicated stronger coupling of trapped ions to surface potentials than that of neutral atoms.It has been pointed out that the best candidates for long-lived trap are spinless neutral atoms, which weakly interact with stray fields via the Stark effect [13,14]. Alternatively, material dependence of the trap lifetime has been investigated to reduce thermal magnetic field in magnetic atom-chips [9,10,11]. Electric manipulation of atoms, which allows manipulating spinless neutral atoms in addition to paramagnetic atoms and molecules, may open up a new possibility for scalable quantum systems with long coherence time. In this Letter, we demonstrate three dimensional (3D) electrodynamic trapping of laser cooled Sr atoms in the 1 S 0 state with miniature electrodes fabricated on a glass plate. The very thin electrodes (∼ 40 nm) used in the experiment will significantly reduce thermal magnetic fields near metal surfaces, which would be especially profitable in applying this scheme to paramagnetic atoms.For an applied electric field E(r), the Stark energy is given by U (r) = − 1 2 α|E(r)| 2 . Since the static dipole polarizability α is positive for atoms in stable states, these atoms can be trapped at a local maximum of the electric field strength and behave as a "high-field seeker". However, as the Laplace equation does not allow an electrostatic field to form a maximum in free space, 3D trapping is not possible for a static electric field alone [15]. In addition owing to a small dipole polarizability, rather high electric fields are required for the Stark manipulation of laser-co...

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“…The first demonstration of ac electric trapping was car- * Electronic address: schlunk@fhi-berlin.mpg.de ried out for ammonia molecules using a cylindrically symmetric trap with a depth of several millikelvins [11]. Similar trap depths were later obtained for the same molecule with a linear ac trap [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

ac electric trapping of neutral atoms

et al. 2008

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We study the dynamic behavior of ultracold neutral atoms in a macroscopic ac electric trap. Confinement in such a trap is achieved by switching between two saddle-point configurations of the electric field. The gradual formation of a stably trapped cloud is observed and the trap performance is studied versus the switching frequency and the symmetry of the switching cycle. Additionally, the electric field in the trap is mapped out by imaging the atom cloud while the fields are still on. Finally, the phase-space acceptance of the trap is probed by introducing a modified switching cycle. The experimental results are reproduced using full three-dimensional trajectory calculations.

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ac Electric Trap for Ground-State Molecules

Cited by 127 publications

References 22 publications

Collisional properties of cold spin-polarized nitrogen gas: Theory, experiment, and prospects as a sympathetic coolant for trapped atoms and molecules

Collisional properties of cold spin-polarized nitrogen gas: Theory, experiment, and prospects as a sympathetic coolant for trapped atoms and molecules

Electrodynamic Trapping of Spinless Neutral Atoms with an Atom Chip

ac electric trapping of neutral atoms

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