Alternating-Gradient Focusing of the Benzonitrile-Argon Van der Waals Complex

Abstract

We report on the focusing and guiding of the van der Waals complex formed between benzonitrile molecules (C${}_6$H${}_5$CN) and argon atoms in a cold molecular beam using an ac electric quadrupole guide. The distribution of quantum states in the guided beam is non-thermal, because the transmission efficiency depends on the state-dependent effective dipole moment in the applied electric fields. At a specific ac frequency, however, the excitation spectrum can be described by a thermal distribution at a rotational temperature of 0.8 K. From the observed transmission characteristics and a combination of trajectory and Stark-energy calculations we conclude that the permanent electric dipole moment of benzonitrile remains unchanged upon the attachment of the argon atom to within \pm5%. By exploiting the different dipole-moment-to-mass (μ/m) ratios of the complex and the benzonitrile monomer, transmission can be selectively suppressed for or, in the limit of 0 K rotational temperature, restricted to the complex.

arXiv commentto be published in JCP

References in corpus (6)

• A selector for structural isomers of neutral molecules
• Precise dipole moment and quadrupole coupling constants of benzonitrile
• Alternating gradient focusing and deceleration of large molecules
• Spatial separation of state- and size-selected neutral clusters
• Rotational-state-specific guiding of large molecules
• Transport of polar molecules by an alternating gradient guide

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Manipulation of Molecules with Electromagnetic Fields
• Spatially-controlled complex molecules and their applications
• Improved spatial separation of neutral molecules
• Full-dimensional quantum scattering calculations on ultracold atom-molecule collisions in magnetic fields: The role of molecular vibrations
• Conformer-selection by matter-wave interference