Related papers: Deceleration and electrostatic trapping of OH radi…
Atomic physics was revolutionized by the development of forced evaporative cooling: it led directly to the observation of Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum-degenerate Fermi gases, and ultracold optical lattice simulations of condensed…
We present a versatile electric trap for the exploration of a wide range of quantum phenomena in the interaction between polar molecules. The trap combines tunable fields, homogeneous over most of the trap volume, with steep gradient fields…
Accurate measurement of the lifetime of the neutron (which is unstable to beta decay) is important for understanding the weak nuclear force and the creation of matter during the Big Bang. Previous measurements of the neutron lifetime have…
We report optical trapping of a polyatomic molecule, calcium monohydroxide (CaOH). CaOH molecules from a magneto-optical trap are sub-Doppler laser cooled to $20(3)~\mu\text{K}$ in free space and loaded into an optical dipole trap. We…
We describe an experimental apparatus capable of achieving a high loading rate of strontium atoms in a magneto-optical trap operating in a high vacuum environment. A key innovation of this setup is a two dimensional magneto-optical trap…
Heavy polar molecules can be used to measure the electric dipole moment of the electron, which is a sensitive probe of physics beyond the Standard Model. The value is determined by measuring the precession of the molecule's spin in a plane…
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…
High precision spectroscopy on the $2 \ ^3 S \rightarrow 2 \ ^1 S$ transition is possible in ultracold optically trapped helium but the accuracy is limited by the ac-Stark shift induced by the optical dipole trap. To overcome this problem,…
We report the rapid accelerated thermalisation of Potassium 39 K atoms loaded in a magnetic trap, in the presence of a single dipole trap beam. More than an order of magnitude reduction in the thermalisation time, to less than a second, is…
Three-dimensional magnetic confinement of neutrons is reported. Neutrons are loaded into an Ioffe-type superconducting magnetic trap through inelastic scattering of cold neutrons with 4He. Scattered neutrons with sufficiently low energy and…
We present an analysis of the deceleration and trapping of heavy diatomic molecules in low-field seeking states by a moving electric potential. This moving potential is created by a 'ring-decelerator', which consists of a series of…
We demonstrate a trap that confines polarizable particles around the antinode of a standing-wave microwave field. The trap relies only on the polarizability of the particles far from any resonances, so can trap a wide variety of atoms and…
We demonstrate trapping of an ultracold gas of neutral atoms in a macroscopic ac electric trap. Three-dimensional confinement is obtained by switching between two saddle-point configurations of the electric field. Stable trapping is…
With a Stark decelerator, beams of neutral polar molecules can be accelerated, guided at a constant velocity, or decelerated. The effectiveness of this process is determined by the 6D volume in phase space from which molecules are accepted…
Trapped radioactive atoms present exciting opportunities for the study of fundamental interactions and symmetries. For example, detecting beta decay in a trap can probe the minute experimental signal that originates from possible tensor or…
The lifetime of Ba$^+$ ions confined in a Paul trap is found, under typical conditions, to be limited by chemical reactions with residual background gas. An integrated ion trap and time-of-flight mass spectrometer are used to analyze the…
We have demonstrated that a supersonic beam of methyl radicals (CH$_3$) in the ground rotational state of both $para$ and $ortho$ species has been slowed down to standstill with a magnetic molecular decelerator, and successfully captured…
We describe the production of cold, slow-moving LiH molecules. The molecules are produced in the ground state using laser ablation and supersonic expansion, and 68% of the population is transferred to the rotationally excited state using…
We present experiments on decelerating and trapping ammonia molecules using a combination of a Stark decelerator and a traveling wave decelerator. In the traveling wave decelerator a moving potential is created by a series of ring-shaped…
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…