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Review of Scientific Instruments

Creation of cold nitric oxide by extraction of the cold fraction of a thermal distribution

Bryan J. Bichsel, Jason S. Alexander, Parshuram Dahal, Michael A. Morrison, Neil E. Shafer, E. R. I. Abraham

Published Oct 1, 2015• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We describe a device using the Stark effect to extract the cold fraction of nitric oxide molecules from a warmer thermal distribution. Room temperature NO is cryogenically cooled to 72-82 K and injected into a straight, hexapole guide that uses the Stark effect. By blocking line-of-sight trajectories from the input to the output, primarily the slowest molecules are guided around the obstruction and are transferred into a new chamber. We measure the temperature distribution using a field-stabilized Rydberg time-of-flight technique. A superposition of molecular Rydberg states is excited, sufficiently increasing the lifetime of the excited state for a time-of-flight measurement for cold molecular samples. We produce a continuous source of nitric oxide with temperatures ranging from 7 to 20 K in the lowest ro-vibrational state. The output temperature is controlled by the initial temperature distribution and the guide voltage.

DOI
10.1063/1.4931756

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arXiv:0804.1986•Physical Review Letters•Nov 14, 2008•99 citations
We describe a device using the Stark effect to extract the cold fraction of nitric oxide molecules from a warmer thermal distribution. Room temperature NO is cryogenically cooled to 72-82 K and injected into a straight, hexapole guide that uses the Stark effect. By blocking line-of-sight trajectories from the input to the output, primarily the slowest molecules are guided around the obstruction and are transferred into a new chamber. We measure the temperature distribution using a field-stabilized Rydberg time-of-flight technique. A superposition of molecular Rydberg states is excited, sufficiently increasing the lifetime of the excited state for a time-of-flight measurement for cold molecular samples. We produce a continuous source of nitric oxide with temperatures ranging from 7 to 20 K in the lowest ro-vibrational state. The output temperature is controlled by the initial temperature distribution and the guide voltage.
One possible technique is the use of a modified straight Stark guide to filter the slow moving molecules from a thermal source. Here I present such a technique and the design of the necessary apparatus. Furthermore, I present experimental results for creating a molecular source of nitric oxide (NO) whose temperature is controlled. Results showing the effects of the guide on the lowest ro-vibrational states of NO and a new technique for measuring the speed distribution of a cold molecular sample are also discussed. Finally, the use of the guide to produce cold NO molecules at a temperature of 7 +/- 2 K is described.
I present the experimental results of a new source of cold molecular production using activated carbon and the design of the necessary apparatus. This new source may eliminate the need for laser ablation loading in buffer gas cooling experiments. I also analyze the relative signal amplitude of rotational lines of cold Nitric Oxide (NO) molecules in its lower fine structure state. Experimental results showing the effects of the hexapole velocity filter on the production of lowest ro-vibrational low field seeking states of a cold molecular sample of NO is also discussed. The sample is produced by the extraction of the cold fraction of the Maxwell-Boltzman distribution of a thermal source.
The dynamics of nitric oxide (NO) molecules in a cryogenically cooled, transmission-line Rydberg-Stark decelerator have been studied experimentally and through numerical particle trajectory calculations. The molecules, initially travelling in pulsed supersonic beams, were prepared in states with principal quantum number n = 43, in the Rydberg series converging to the N+=2 rotational state of NO+ using the nℓ X+ 1Σ+←A 2Σ+←X 2Π1/2 resonance-enhanced two-colour two-photon excitation scheme. Deceleration from 795 m/s to rest in the laboratory-fixed frame of reference was achieved in a time of ∼250 μs. The observed motional dynamics of the decelerated and trapped Rydberg molecules is in good quantitative agreement with the results of the calculations. The translational temperature of the trapped molecules was determined to be ∼8 K from their rate of expansion after the trap was switched off. These results are of importance in the interpretation of measurements of lifetimes and decay processes of cold electrostatically trapped Rydberg molecules, and in the optimisation of the operation of this type of decelerator for heavier species.
Nitric oxide (NO) molecules initially traveling at 795 m/s in pulsed supersonic beams have been photoexcited to long-lived hydrogenic Rydberg-Stark states, decelerated and electrostatically trapped in a cryogenically cooled, chip-based transmission-line Rydberg-Stark decelerator. The decelerated and trapped molecules were detected in situ by pulsed electric field ionization. The operation of the decelerator was validated by comparison of the experimental data with the results of numerical calculations of particle trajectories. Studies of the decay of the trapped molecules on timescales up to 1 ms provide new insights into the lifetimes of, and effects of blackbody radiation on, Rydberg states of NO.
The double-resonant laser excitation of nitric oxide, cooled to 1 K in a seeded supersonic molecular beam, yields a gas of $\ensuremath{\approx}{10}^{12}$ molecules per cubic centimeter in a single selected Rydberg state. This population evolves to produce prompt free electrons, and a durable cold plasma of electrons and intact NO+{\text{NO}}^{+}NO+ ions. This plasma travels with the molecular beam through a field-free region to encounter a grid. The atomic weight of the expansion gas controls the beam velocity and hence the flight time from the interaction region to the grid. Monitoring electron production as the plasma traverses this grid measures its longitudinal width as a function of flight time. Comparing these widths to the width of the laser beam that defines the initial size of the illuminated volume allows us to gauge the rate of expansion of the plasma. We find that the plasma created from the evolution of a Rydberg gas of NO expands at a small but measurable rate, and that this rate of expansion accords with the Vlasov equations for an initial electron temperature of ${T}_{e}\ensuremath{\approx}7\text{ }\text{K}$.
We report the spontaneous formation of a plasma from a gas of cold Rydberg molecules. Double-resonant laser excitation promotes nitric oxide, cooled to 1 K in a seeded supersonic molecular beam, to single Rydberg states extending as deep as $80\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ below the lowest ionization threshold. The density of excited molecules in the illuminated volume approaches $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{13}\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$. This population evolves to produce free electrons and a durable cold plasma of electrons and intact NO+{\mathrm{NO}}^{+}NO+ ions.