Related papers: A cryofuge for cold-collision experiments with slo…
Reaching high densities is a key step towards cold-collision experiments with polyatomic molecules. We use a cryofuge to load up to 2$\times10^7$ CH$_3$F molecules into a box-like electric trap, achieving densities up to 10$^7$/cm$^3$ at…
Producing large samples of slow molecules from thermal-velocity ensembles is a formidable challenge. Here we employ a centrifugal force to produce a continuous molecular beam with a high flux at near-zero velocities. We demonstrate…
We propose to sympathetically slow and cool polar molecules in a cold, low-density beam using laser-cooled Rydberg atoms. The elastic collision cross sections between molecules and Rydberg atoms are large enough to efficiently thermalize…
Ultracold polar molecules offer the possibility of exploring quantum gases with interparticle interactions that are strong, long-range, and spatially anisotropic. This is in stark contrast to the dilute gases of ultracold atoms, which have…
Employing a two-stage cryogenic buffer gas cell, we produce a cold, hydrodynamically extracted beam of calcium monohydride molecules with a near effusive velocity distribution. Beam dynamics, thermalization and slowing are studied using…
We introduce a method for classical trajectory calculations to simulate collisions between atoms and large rigid asymmetric-top molecules. Using this method, we investigate the formation of molecule-helium complexes in buffer-gas cooling…
Cryogenic buffer gas cells have been a workhorse for the cooling of molecules in the last decades. The straightforward sympathetic cooling principle makes them applicable to a huge variety of different species. Notwithstanding this success,…
We present the first experimental observation of cold collisions between two different species of neutral polar molecules, each prepared in a single internal quantum state. Combining for the first time the techniques of Stark deceleration,…
Ultracold polar molecules offer strong electric dipole moments and rich internal structure, which makes them ideal building blocks to explore exotic quantum matter, implement novel quantum information schemes, or test fundamental symmetries…
Recently, the quest for an ultracold and dense ensemble of polar molecules has attracted strong interest. Polar molecules have bright prospects for novel quantum gases with long-range and anisotropic interactions, for quantum information…
This article reviews the current state of the art in the field of cold and ultracold molecules and demonstrates that chemical reactions, inelastic collisions and dissociation of molecules at subKelvin temperatures can be manipulated with…
We present a method which delivers a continuous, high-density beam of slow and internally cold polar molecules. In our source, warm molecules are first cooled by collisions with a cryogenic helium buffer gas. Cold molecules are then…
Molecular collisions can be studied at very low relative kinetic energies, in the milliKelvin range, by merging codirectional beams with much higher translational energies, extending even to the kiloKelvin range, provided that the beam…
In the past two decades, the revolutionary technologies of creating cold and ultracold molecules have provided cutting-edge experiments for studying the fundamental phenomena of collision physics. To a large degree, the recent explosion of…
We use microwaves to engineer repulsive long-range interactions between ultracold polar molecules. The resulting shielding suppresses various loss mechanisms and provides large elastic cross sections. Hyperfine interactions limit the…
Harnessing the potential wide-ranging quantum science applications of molecules will require control of their interactions. Here, we use microwave radiation to directly engineer and tune the interaction potentials between ultracold calcium…
Collisions between cold molecules are essential for studying fundamental aspects of quantum chemistry, and may enable formation of quantum degenerate molecular matter by evaporative cooling. However, collisions between trapped, naturally…
The Stark interaction of polar molecules with an inhomogeneous electric field is exploited to select slow molecules from a room-temperature reservoir and guide them into an ultrahigh vacuum chamber. A linear electrostatic quadrupole with a…
We demonstrate the deceleration of heavy polar molecules in low-field seeking states by combining a cryogenic source and a travelling-wave Stark decelerator. The cryogenic source provides a high intensity beam with low speed and…
The ability to cool atoms below the Doppler limit -- the minimum temperature reachable by Doppler cooling -- has been essential to most experiments with quantum degenerate gases, optical lattices and atomic fountains, among many other…