Magnetic Trapping of Cold Methyl Radicals

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the magnetic trapping of cold methyl radicals, achieving long-term confinement of molecules at sub-Kelvin temperatures, which enables advanced studies in cold molecule physics and quantum-controlled chemistry.

Contribution

It is the first to successfully slow, trap, and hold methyl radicals in a magnetic trap, paving the way for ultracold polyatomic molecule research.

Findings

Methyl radicals were slowed and trapped for over 1 second.

Trapped radicals have a translational temperature of about 200 mK.

Estimated density of trapped radicals exceeds 5.0×10^7 cm^-3.

Abstract

We have demonstrated that a supersonic beam of methyl radicals (CH$_3$) in the ground rotational state of both $para$ and $ortho$ species has been slowed down to standstill with a magnetic molecular decelerator, and successfully captured spatially in an anti-Helmholtz magnetic trap for $>$ 1 s. The trapped CH$_3$ radicals have a mean translational temperature of about 200 mK with an estimated density of $>5.0\times10^7$ cm$^{-3}$. The methyl radical is an ideal system for the study of cold molecules not only because of its high reactivities at low temperatures, but also because further cooling below 1 mK is plausible via sympathetic cooling with ultracold atoms. The demonstrated trapping capability of methyl radicals opens up various possibilities for realizing ultracold ensembles of molecules towards Bose-Einstein condensation of polyatomic molecules and investigations of reactions governed by quantum statistics.