Slow decay processes of electrostatically trapped Rydberg NO molecules

TL;DR

This study demonstrates trapping of Rydberg NO molecules using a cryogenic electrostatic decelerator, and investigates their decay processes and blackbody radiation effects over millisecond timescales.

Contribution

It introduces a chip-based transmission-line decelerator for long-lived Rydberg NO molecules and analyzes their decay dynamics and environmental influences.

Findings

Trapped NO Rydberg molecules exhibit slow decay over 1 ms.

Blackbody radiation significantly affects Rydberg state lifetimes.

Experimental results agree with numerical trajectory calculations.

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) molecules initially traveling at 795 m/s in pulsed supersonic beams have been photoexcited to long-lived hydrogenic Rydberg-Stark states, decelerated and electrostatically trapped in a cryogenically cooled, chip-based transmission-line Rydberg-Stark decelerator. The decelerated and trapped molecules were detected $in$ $situ$ by pulsed electric field ionization. The operation of the decelerator was validated by comparison of the experimental data with the results of numerical calculations of particle trajectories. Studies of the decay of the trapped molecules on timescales up to 1 ms provide new insights into the lifetimes of, and effects of blackbody radiation on, Rydberg states of NO.