Magnetic Trapping of Cold Methyl Radicals

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 $>5.0\times 10^7$ 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.

References in corpus (6)

• Stopping supersonic oxygen with a series of pulsed electromagnetic coils: A molecular coilgun
• Magneto-electrostatic trapping of ground state OH molecules
• Low-energy molecular collisions in a permanent magnetic trap
• Optical pumping of trapped neutral molecules by blackbody radiation
• Sympathetic cooling of polyatomic molecules with S-state atoms in a magnetic trap
• Collisional trap losses of cold, magnetically-trapped Br atoms

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Controlling Spin-flips of Molecules in an Electromagnetic Trap
• Design and construction of a multistage Zeeman decelerator for crossed molecular beams scattering experiments
• Blackbody thermalization and vibrational lifetimes of trapped polyatomic molecules
• Interactions of benzene, naphthalene, and azulene with alkali-metal and alkaline-earth-metal atoms for ultracold studies
• Measurements of trap dynamics of cold OH molecules using resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization
• Cold CH radicals for laser cooling and trapping