Electrostatic Trapping of Ultracold Polar Molecules

This book describes the progress made in the
production, spectroscopic characterization,
and confinement of ultracold, polar NaCs molecules. A
two-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the
simultaneous cooling and trapping of sodium
and cesium atoms was utilized for the creation of
ultracold NaCs molecules via photoassociation.
The molecules were detected via resonance-enhanced
multi-photon ionization and subsequent ion detection.
Spectra were obtained by scanning the frequencies of
the photoassociating and photoionizing lasers. The
resulting discovery that deeply bound, strongly polar
molecules are directly created has lead to efforts to
confine the molecules via electric field trapping.
The design of an electric field trap for polar
molecules that can be superimposed onto a MOT is
presented. This Thin WIre electroStatic Trap
(TWIST) has been built and successfully implemented.

Autorentext

The author was born in Grünstadt, Germany. He studied physics at
the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and the University of
Oklahoma, completing his diploma thesis at the Max Planck
Institut für Kernphysik. His PhD thesis at the University of
Rochester focused on the production, spectroscopy and confinement
of ultracold NaCs molecules.

Klappentext

This book describes the progress made in the
production, spectroscopic characterization,
and confinement of ultracold, polar NaCs molecules. A
two-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the
simultaneous cooling and trapping of sodium
and cesium atoms was utilized for the creation of
ultracold NaCs molecules via photoassociation.
The molecules were detected via resonance-enhanced
multi-photon ionization and subsequent ion detection.
Spectra were obtained by scanning the frequencies of
the photoassociating and photoionizing lasers. The
resulting discovery that deeply bound, strongly polar
molecules are directly created has lead to efforts to
confine the molecules via electric field trapping.
The design of an electric field trap for polar
molecules that can be superimposed onto a MOT is
presented. This 'Thin WIre electroStatic Trap'
(TWIST) has been built and successfully implemented.