Deceleration of a supersonic beam of SrF molecules to 120 m/s

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the deceleration of SrF molecules from 290 m/s to 120 m/s using a traveling-wave Stark decelerator, achieving significant kinetic energy removal and enabling advanced experiments with heavy diatomic molecules.

Contribution

The study introduces a traveling-wave Stark decelerator capable of significantly slowing heavy diatomic molecules like SrF, surpassing previous kinetic energy removal efficiencies.

Findings

Removed 85% of initial kinetic energy in 4 meters

Achieved a deceleration strength of 9.6 km/s²

Provided a new tool for producing slow, collimated molecular beams

Abstract

We report on the deceleration of a beam of SrF molecules from 290 to 120~m/s. Following supersonic expansion, the molecules in the $X^2\Sigma$ ($v=0$, $N=1$) low-field seeking states are trapped by the moving potential wells of a traveling-wave Stark decelerator. With a deceleration strength of 9.6 km/s$^2$ we have demonstrated the removal of 85 % of the initial kinetic energy in a 4 meter long modular decelerator. The absolute amount of kinetic energy removed is a factor 1.5 higher compared to previous Stark deceleration experiments. The demonstrated decelerator provides a novel tool for the creation of highly collimated and slow beams of heavy diatomic molecules, which serve as a good starting point for high-precision tests of fundamental physics.