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Physical Review A

Optoelectrostatic storage ring for polar molecules from supersonic expansion

Zhenghai Yang, Lianzhong Deng, Bin Wei, Shaojie Wang, Shunyong Hou, Jianping Yin

Published Mar 18, 2019• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Cold molecules are desired in a wide range of research areas, like precision measurement of physical constants, high-resolution spectroscopy, and cold collisions. Scientific interest in the generation and manipulation of cold molecules has been strong for decades. Here we theoretically investigate the dynamics of an optoelectrostatic storage ring for polar molecules, which is composed of an orbiting laser beam and an electrostatic quadrupole ring. The potentials of water molecules experienced in the combined optical and electrical fields are first calculated and a three-dimensional (3D) hybrid potential well for molecules of interest is formed in the focus spot of the red-detuned laser beam. The behavior of motional water molecules under the influence of the decelerating hybrid potential well is then investigated. Later, the deceleration and trapping processes of water molecules from supersonic expansion in the hybrid potential well are numerically simulated and corresponding results are presented. Our study indicates that this optoelectrostatic storage ring, featuring a 3D potential well of controllable orbiting speed, can serve as a good platform for production and manipulation of cold polar molecules and should have important applications in the related research areas.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.99.033414

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Cold molecules are desired in a wide range of research areas, like precision measurement of physical constants, high-resolution spectroscopy, and cold collisions. Scientific interest in the generation and manipulation of cold molecules has been strong for decades. Here we theoretically investigate the dynamics of an optoelectrostatic storage ring for polar molecules, which is composed of an orbiting laser beam and an electrostatic quadrupole ring. The potentials of water molecules experienced in the combined optical and electrical fields are first calculated and a three-dimensional (3D) hybrid potential well for molecules of interest is formed in the focus spot of the red-detuned laser beam. The behavior of motional water molecules under the influence of the decelerating hybrid potential well is then investigated. Later, the deceleration and trapping processes of water molecules from supersonic expansion in the hybrid potential well are numerically simulated and corresponding results are presented. Our study indicates that this optoelectrostatic storage ring, featuring a 3D potential well of controllable orbiting speed, can serve as a good platform for production and manipulation of cold polar molecules and should have important applications in the related research areas.
Cold molecules have great scientific significance in high-resolution spectroscopy, precision measurement of physical constants, cold collision, and cold chemistry. Supersonic expansion is a conventional and versatile method to produce cold molecules with high kinetic energies. We theoretically show here that fast-moving molecules from supersonic expansion can be effectively decelerated to any desired velocity with a rotating laser beam. The orbiting focus spot of the red-detuned laser serves as a two-dimensional potential well for the molecules. We analyze the dynamics of the molecules inside the decelerating potential well and investigate the dependence of their phase acceptance by the potential well on the tilting angle of the laser beam. ND 3 molecules are used in the test of the scheme and their trajectories under the impact of the decelerating potential well are numerically simulated using the Monte Carlo method. For instance, with a laser beam of 20 kW in power focused into a pot of in waist radius, ND 3 molecules of 250 m/s can be brought to a standstill by the decelerating potential well within a time interval of about 0.73 ms. The total angle covered by the rotating laser beam is about 5.24° with the distance travelled by the potential well being about 9.13 cm. In fact, the molecules can be decelerated to any desired velocity depending on the parameters adopted. This scheme is simple in structure and easy to be realized in experiment. In addition, it is applicable to decelerating both molecules and atoms.
In order to meet the demands for laser manipulations and detection of cold molecules, we propose an optically accessible and controllable electrostatic surface storage ring for cold polar molecules on a chip, which is one based on extension and application of the three-wire surface guiding scheme [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B25, 1214 (2008)]. To our knowledge, this is the first real surface storage ring scheme. The spatial distribution of the electrostatic fields generated by two insulator-embedded charged rings and a grounded conductor plate is numerically calculated. Relationships between the height of the trap center above the surface and the setup parameters are analyzed in detail. Using OH radical molecules as a tester, the range of molecular velocities that the storage ring can confine is investigated. The dynamical process of weak-field-seeking OH molecules of state |J,KM〉=|3/2,−9/4〉 being loaded into and confined in the storage ring is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. Dependencies of translational temperature of molecules and their trapping efficiency in the storage ring on parameters of the setup and the initial molecular beam are examined. By incorporating a bunching function into our scheme, the number of round trips a trapped molecular packet makes can be improved by almost three times before getting spread out to fill the whole storage ring, as confirmed by numerical simulations.
A scheme of surface manipulation and control of polar molecules is proposed, which combines three tools of electrostatic velocity filtering, bunching, and storing. In the scheme, a slow molecular beam is produced from an effusive beam by surface velocity filtering. Then the velocity spread of the slow molecular beam is compressed by a buncher consisting of a series of electrodes. Following that the molecular beam with a narrow velocity spread is stored in a storage ring. Using ND 3 molecule as a tester, the feasibility of our scheme is analyzed theoretically and verified via numerical simulations that cover all three manipulation processes. The results show that cold molecular samples can be prepared from a thermal gas reservoir and stored in the storage ring with more than 10 round trips. Our combined scheme facilitates the production and manipulation of polar molecules, offering new opportunities for basic research and intriguing applications such as quantum information science and cold collisions.
An electrostatic storage ring for cold polar molecules formed on the surface of a dielectric substrate is proposed. We study the electric field distribution in free space generated by an insulator-embedded charged conductor ring and a bias field and analyze the behavior of weak-field-seeking CH3F molecules of state |J, K M|=|1,−1⟩ in the electrostatic storage ring. Results from Monte Carlo simulations of CH3F molecules being loaded into and confined in the storage ring are presented along with potential applications of the scheme in a variety of research areas using cold molecules.
We propose a versatile scheme to slow supersonically cooled molecules using a decelerating potential well, obtained by steering a focusing laser beam onto a pair of spinning reflective mirrors under a high-speed brake. The longitudinal motion of molecules in the moving red-detuned light field is analyzed and their corresponding phase-space stability is investigated. Trajectories of CH4\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{H}}_{4}CH4​ molecules under the influence of the potential well are simulated using the Monte Carlo method. For instance, with a laser beam of power 20 kW focused onto a spot of waist radius 40--100 \ensuremath{\mu}m, corresponding to a peak laser intensity on the order of $\ensuremath{\sim}{10}^{8}\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{W}/\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{2}$, a CH4\mathrm{C}{\mathrm{H}}_{4}CH4​ molecule of $\ensuremath{\sim}250\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ can be decelerated to $\ensuremath{\sim}10\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$ over a distance of a few centimeters on a time scale of hundreds of microseconds.