Measuring and manipulating the temperature of cold molecules trapped on a chip

TL;DR

This paper presents methods to measure and control the temperature of cold molecules on a chip, including imaging, simulations, and adiabatic cooling, advancing molecular trapping techniques.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to measure and manipulate molecular temperature on a chip using spatial imaging and trajectory simulations, including adiabatic cooling.

Findings

Successful temperature measurement via spatial imaging

Demonstration of adiabatic cooling of molecules

Agreement between experimental data and simulations

Abstract

We demonstrate the measurement and manipulation of the temperature of cold CO molecules in a microchip environment. Through the use of time-resolved spatial imaging, we are able to observe the phase-space distribution of the molecules, and hence deduce the corresponding temperature. We do this both by observing the expansion of the molecular ensemble in time and through the use of numerical trajectory simulations. Furthermore, we demonstrate the adiabatic cooling of the trapped molecular sample and discuss this process.