Related papers: Loading Stark-decelerated molecules into electrost…
The transverse motion inside a Stark decelerator plays a large role in the total efficiency of deceleration. We differentiate between two separate regimes of molecule loss during the slowing process. The first mechanism involves distributed…
A method for decelerating a continuous beam of neutral polar molecules is theoretically demonstrated. This method utilizes non-uniform, static electric fields and regions of adiabatic population transfer to generate a mechanical force that…
Loading an ultra-cold ensemble into a static magnetic trap involves unavoidable loss of phase space density when the gravitational energy dominates the kinetic energy of the ensemble. In such a case the gravitational energy is transformed…
We report on a technique to improve the continuous loading of atomic strontium into a magnetic trap from a Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT). This is achieved by adding a depumping laser tuned to the 3P1 to 3S1 (688-nm) transition. The depumping…
We demonstrate loading of SrF molecules into an optical dipole trap (ODT) via in-trap $\Lambda$-cooling. We find that this cooling can be optimized by a proper choice of relative ODT and $\Lambda$ beam polarizations. In this optimized…
We demonstrate simultaneous deceleration and trapping of a cold atomic and molecular mixture. This is the first step towards studies of cold atom-molecule collisions at low temperatures as well as application of sympathetic cooling. Both…
We demonstrate the long-term ($<$ 1 minute) trapping of Stark-decelerated OH radicals in their $X~^{2}\Pi _{3/2}~(\nu = 0,~J = 3/2,~M_{J} = 3/2,~f)$ state in a permanent magnetic trap. The trap environment was cryogenically cooled to a…
It is shown that a superposition of static and rapidly oscillating electric {\it monopole} (source) fields is capable of trapping particles with a permanent electric dipole moment. Thus, the new trapping mechanism differs fundamentally from…
We revisit the operation of the Stark decelerator and present a new, optimized operation scheme, which substantially improves the efficiency of the decelerator at both low and high final velocities, relevant for trapping experiments and…
Polar molecules represent a promising platform for quantum simulation and computation protocols. Highly controllable arrays of optical tweezers are now accessible in experiments, allowing for unprecedented control of individual molecules.…
We describe an approach to optically trapping small, chemically stable molecules at cryogenic temperatures by buffer-gas loading a deep optical dipole trap. The ~10 K trap depth will be produced by a tightly-focused, 1064-nm cavity capable…
A Stark decelerator is an effective tool for controlling motional degrees of freedom of polar molecules. Due to technical limitations, many of the current Stark decelerators focus on molecules in low-field-seeking quantum states and are…
The capture of a moving atom by a non-dissipative trap, such as an optical dipole trap, requires the removal of the excessive kinetic energy of the atom. In this article we develop a mechanism to harvest ultra cold atoms from a guided atom…
Recent work with laser-cooled molecules in attractive optical traps has shown that the differential AC Stark shifts arising from the trap light itself can become problematic, limiting collisional shielding efficiencies, rotational coherence…
This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier…
Molecular magneto-optical traps (MOTs) typically capture orders of magnitude fewer particles than their atomic counterparts due in part to their significantly lower capture velocities. Here, we employ a Stochastic Schr\"odinger Equation…
Proposals for quantum computing using rotational states of polar molecules as qubits have previously considered only diatomic molecules. For these the Stark effect is second-order, so a sizable external electric field is required to produce…
We report on the Stark deceleration and electrostatic trapping of $^{14}$NH ($a ^1\Delta$) radicals. In the trap, the molecules are excited on the spin-forbidden $A ^3\Pi \leftarrow a ^1\Delta$ transition and detected via their subsequent…
By performing a slow adiabatic change between two traps of a quantum particle, it is possible to transform an eigenstate of the original trap into the corresponding eigenstate of the final trap. If no level crossings are involved, the…
In a Stark decelerator, polar molecules are slowed down and focussed by an inhomogeneous electric field which switches between two configurations. For the decelerator to work, it is essential that the molecules follow the changing electric…