Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Multistage Zeeman deceleration of metastable neon

A. W. Wiederkehr, M. Motsch, S. D. Hogan, M. Andrist, Hansjürg Schmutz, B. Lambillotte, Josef A. Agner, Frédéric Merkt

Published Dec 7, 2011• 19 citations
Publisher

Abstract

A supersonic beam of metastable neon atoms has been decelerated by exploiting the interaction between the magnetic moment of the atoms and time-dependent inhomogeneous magnetic fields in a multistage Zeeman decelerator. Using 91 deceleration solenoids, the atoms were decelerated from an initial velocity of 580m/s to final velocities as low as 105m/s, corresponding to a removal of more than 95% of their initial kinetic energy. The phase-space distribution of the cold, decelerated atoms was characterized by time-of-flight and imaging measurements, from which a temperature of 10mK was obtained in the moving frame of the decelerated sample. In combination with particle-trajectory simulations, these measurements allowed the phase-space acceptance of the decelerator to be quantified. The degree of isotope separation that can be achieved by multistage Zeeman deceleration was also studied by performing experiments with pulse sequences generated for ²⁰Ne and ²²Ne. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.

DOI
10.3929/ethz-a-010780887

Related papers

Multistage Zeeman deceleration of atoms and molecules

A. W. Wiederkehr

A modular multistage Zeeman decelerator consisting of an array of solenoids has been developed to control the velocity of cold, paramagnetic atoms and molecules in supersonic beams. The translational motion these atoms and molecules was manipulated with high precision by exploiting the interaction between their magnetic moments and timedependent inhomogeneous magnetic elds. Deceleration was achieved by pulsing high currents (up to 300 A) through the solenoids of the decelerator with pulse sequences calculated to preserve the phase-space density of the atomic and molecular samples while removing a preset amount of kinetic energy. For the operation of the multistage Zeeman decelerator, solenoids and electronic units were developed to generate strong magneticeld pulses (> 2 T) with rise and fall times of only a few microseconds. An accurate three-dimensional particle-trajectory simulation program has been developed to analyze the deceleration process and optimize its e ciency. This software was thoroughly tested by systematic comparison with experimental results and enabled, in combination with measurements, the complete characterization of the spatial and velocity distributions of the decelerated and trapped atoms for di erent sets of experimental conditions. The program was essential to achieve a complete interpretation of the dynamics of the deceleration process and to devise a strategy to e ciently load the decelerated atoms and molecules into magnetic quadrupole traps. In a rst experiment, hydrogen atoms seeded in a supersonic expansion of Kr have been decelerated from an initial velocity of 435 m/s to nal velocities as low as 107 m/s in a 12-stage Zeeman decelerator. The operation of the decelerator has been analyzed by comparing the results of numerical particle-trajectory simulations with those of independent measurements of the velocity distribution by ion time-ofight mass spectrometry following photoionization of the decelerated atoms. The velocity distribution of the decelerated atom cloud was found to have a half width at half maximum of 25± 12 m/s corresponding to a temperature of ∼ 40 mK. The phase stability of the multistage-Zeeman-deceleration process has been investigated by numerical particle-trajectory simulations and experimental measurements on deuterium atoms in a 24-stage Zeeman decelerator. A one-dimensional analytical model of the phase stability in a multistage Zeeman decelerator was adapted from a one-dimensional model of phase stability in a multistage Stark decelerator and compared with the results of oneand three-dimensional particle-trajectory simulations. The comparison, which included the analysis of the e ects of nite switch-on and switch-o times of the deceleration pulses, revealed that transverse e ects in the decelerator lead to a considerable reduction of the

•Jan 1, 2012•0 citations

Slow beams of atomic hydrogen by multistage Zeeman deceleration

S. D. Hogan, A. W. Wiederkehr, M. Andrist +2 more

Hydrogen atoms seeded in a supersonic expansion of Kr have been decelerated from an initial velocity of 435 m s-1 to 107 m s-1 in a multistage Zeeman decelerator. The operation of the decelerator has been fully quantified by numerical particle trajectory simulations and independent measurements of the velocity distribution by ion time-of-flight mass spectrometry following photoionization of the decelerated atoms. The velocity distributions of the decelerated atom clouds have a half-width at half-maximum of 25 ± 12 m s-1 corresponding to a temperature of ∼30 mK. These velocities and temperatures are sufficiently low that magnetic trapping of the atoms can be envisaged. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Apr 3, 2008•33 citations

Multistage Zeeman deceleration of hydrogen atoms

Nicolas Vanhaecke, Urban Meier, M. Andrist +2 more

The deceleration of beams of neutral particles possessing an electron spin with time-dependent inhomogeneous magnetic fields is demonstrated experimentally. Half the kinetic energy of a velocity-selected part of a pulsed supersonic beam of hydrogen atoms in the ground state is removed using six pulsed magnetic field stages.

Physical Review A•Mar 14, 2007•229 citations

Zeeman deceleration of electron-impact-excited metastable helium atoms

Katrin Dulitz, Atreju Tauschinsky, T. P. Softley

We present experimental results that demonstrate—for the first time—the Zeeman deceleration of helium atoms in the metastable 2 3 S 1 state. A more than 40% decrease of the kinetic energy of the beam is achieved for deceleration from 490 m s −1 to a final velocity of 370 m s −1 . Metastable atom generation is achieved with an electron-impact-excitation source whose performance is enhanced through an additional discharge-type process which we characterize in detail. Metastable helium is efficiently generated even in a mixture of other noble gases that have much lower excitation energies. Comparison of deceleration data at different electron beam pulse durations confirms that a matching between the initial particle distribution and the phase-space acceptance of the decelerator is crucial for the production of a decelerated packet with a well-defined velocity distribution. The experimental findings are in good agreement with three-dimensional numerical particle trajectory simulations.

arXiv:1501.04589•New Journal of Physics•Mar 6, 2015•16 citations

Multistage Zeeman deceleration of atomic and molecular oxygen

Theo Cremers, Simon Chefdeville, Vikram Plomp +3 more

Multistage Zeeman deceleration is a technique used to reduce the velocity of neutral molecules with a magnetic-dipole moment. Here we present a Zeeman decelerator that consists of 100 solenoids and 100 magnetic hexapoles that is based on a short prototype design presented recently [Phys. Rev. A 95, 043415 (2017)]. The decelerator features a modular design with excellent thermal and vacuum properties and is robustly operated at a 10 Hz repetition rate. We use this decelerator to demonstrate the state-selective deceleration of atomic oxygen to final mean velocities in the range 500--125 m/s. We further characterize our decelerator with molecular oxygen, which, despite its heavier mass, is velocity tuned in the range 350--150 m/s. This corresponds to a maximum kinetic-energy reduction of 95% and 80% for atomic and molecular oxygen, respectively. The long multistage Zeeman decelerator presented here demonstrates that the concept of using alternating hexapoles and solenoids is truly phase stable. This Zeeman decelerator is ideally suited for applications in crossed-beam scattering experiments; the state-selected and velocity-controlled samples of O atoms and ${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$ molecules are particularly relevant for studies of inelastic and reactive processes.

arXiv:1805.07202•Physical Review A•Sep 6, 2018•18 citations

Magnetic Trapping of Hydrogen after Multistage Zeeman Deceleration

S. D. Hogan, A. W. Wiederkehr, Hansjürg Schmutz +1 more

We report the first experimental realization of magnetic trapping of a sample of cold radicals following multistage Zeeman deceleration of a pulsed supersonic beam. H atoms seeded in a supersonic expansion of Kr have been decelerated from an initial velocity of 520 m/s to 100 m/s in a 12-stage Zeeman decelerator and loaded into a magnetic quadrupole trap by rapidly switching the fields of the trap solenoids.

Physical Review Letters•Sep 29, 2008•92 citations
A supersonic beam of metastable neon atoms has been decelerated by exploiting the interaction between the magnetic moment of the atoms and time-dependent inhomogeneous magnetic fields in a multistage Zeeman decelerator. Using 91 deceleration solenoids, the atoms were decelerated from an initial velocity of 580m/s to final velocities as low as 105m/s, corresponding to a removal of more than 95% of their initial kinetic energy. The phase-space distribution of the cold, decelerated atoms was characterized by time-of-flight and imaging measurements, from which a temperature of 10mK was obtained in the moving frame of the decelerated sample. In combination with particle-trajectory simulations, these measurements allowed the phase-space acceptance of the decelerator to be quantified. The degree of isotope separation that can be achieved by multistage Zeeman deceleration was also studied by performing experiments with pulse sequences generated for ²⁰Ne and ²²Ne. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.
A modular multistage Zeeman decelerator consisting of an array of solenoids has been developed to control the velocity of cold, paramagnetic atoms and molecules in supersonic beams. The translational motion these atoms and molecules was manipulated with high precision by exploiting the interaction between their magnetic moments and timedependent inhomogeneous magnetic elds. Deceleration was achieved by pulsing high currents (up to 300 A) through the solenoids of the decelerator with pulse sequences calculated to preserve the phase-space density of the atomic and molecular samples while removing a preset amount of kinetic energy. For the operation of the multistage Zeeman decelerator, solenoids and electronic units were developed to generate strong magneticeld pulses (> 2 T) with rise and fall times of only a few microseconds. An accurate three-dimensional particle-trajectory simulation program has been developed to analyze the deceleration process and optimize its e ciency. This software was thoroughly tested by systematic comparison with experimental results and enabled, in combination with measurements, the complete characterization of the spatial and velocity distributions of the decelerated and trapped atoms for di erent sets of experimental conditions. The program was essential to achieve a complete interpretation of the dynamics of the deceleration process and to devise a strategy to e ciently load the decelerated atoms and molecules into magnetic quadrupole traps. In a rst experiment, hydrogen atoms seeded in a supersonic expansion of Kr have been decelerated from an initial velocity of 435 m/s to nal velocities as low as 107 m/s in a 12-stage Zeeman decelerator. The operation of the decelerator has been analyzed by comparing the results of numerical particle-trajectory simulations with those of independent measurements of the velocity distribution by ion time-ofight mass spectrometry following photoionization of the decelerated atoms. The velocity distribution of the decelerated atom cloud was found to have a half width at half maximum of 25± 12 m/s corresponding to a temperature of ∼ 40 mK. The phase stability of the multistage-Zeeman-deceleration process has been investigated by numerical particle-trajectory simulations and experimental measurements on deuterium atoms in a 24-stage Zeeman decelerator. A one-dimensional analytical model of the phase stability in a multistage Zeeman decelerator was adapted from a one-dimensional model of phase stability in a multistage Stark decelerator and compared with the results of oneand three-dimensional particle-trajectory simulations. The comparison, which included the analysis of the e ects of nite switch-on and switch-o times of the deceleration pulses, revealed that transverse e ects in the decelerator lead to a considerable reduction of the
Hydrogen atoms seeded in a supersonic expansion of Kr have been decelerated from an initial velocity of 435 m s-1 to 107 m s-1 in a multistage Zeeman decelerator. The operation of the decelerator has been fully quantified by numerical particle trajectory simulations and independent measurements of the velocity distribution by ion time-of-flight mass spectrometry following photoionization of the decelerated atoms. The velocity distributions of the decelerated atom clouds have a half-width at half-maximum of 25 ± 12 m s-1 corresponding to a temperature of ∼30 mK. These velocities and temperatures are sufficiently low that magnetic trapping of the atoms can be envisaged. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.
We present experimental results that demonstrate—for the first time—the Zeeman deceleration of helium atoms in the metastable 2 3 S 1 state. A more than 40% decrease of the kinetic energy of the beam is achieved for deceleration from 490 m s −1 to a final velocity of 370 m s −1 . Metastable atom generation is achieved with an electron-impact-excitation source whose performance is enhanced through an additional discharge-type process which we characterize in detail. Metastable helium is efficiently generated even in a mixture of other noble gases that have much lower excitation energies. Comparison of deceleration data at different electron beam pulse durations confirms that a matching between the initial particle distribution and the phase-space acceptance of the decelerator is crucial for the production of a decelerated packet with a well-defined velocity distribution. The experimental findings are in good agreement with three-dimensional numerical particle trajectory simulations.
Multistage Zeeman deceleration is a technique used to reduce the velocity of neutral molecules with a magnetic-dipole moment. Here we present a Zeeman decelerator that consists of 100 solenoids and 100 magnetic hexapoles that is based on a short prototype design presented recently [Phys. Rev. A 95, 043415 (2017)]. The decelerator features a modular design with excellent thermal and vacuum properties and is robustly operated at a 10 Hz repetition rate. We use this decelerator to demonstrate the state-selective deceleration of atomic oxygen to final mean velocities in the range 500--125 m/s. We further characterize our decelerator with molecular oxygen, which, despite its heavier mass, is velocity tuned in the range 350--150 m/s. This corresponds to a maximum kinetic-energy reduction of 95% and 80% for atomic and molecular oxygen, respectively. The long multistage Zeeman decelerator presented here demonstrates that the concept of using alternating hexapoles and solenoids is truly phase stable. This Zeeman decelerator is ideally suited for applications in crossed-beam scattering experiments; the state-selected and velocity-controlled samples of O atoms and O2{\mathrm{O}}_{2}O2​ molecules are particularly relevant for studies of inelastic and reactive processes.