Collisions between cold molecules in a superconducting magnetic trap

Abstract

Collisions between cold molecules are essential for studying fundamental aspects of quantum chemistry, and may enable formation of quantum degenerate molecular matter by evaporative cooling. However, collisions between trapped, naturally occurring molecules have so far eluded direct observation due to the low collision rates of dilute samples. We report the first directly observed collisions between cold, trapped molecules, achieved without the need of laser cooling. We magnetically capture molecular oxygen in a 0.8K x kB deep superconducting trap, and set bounds on the ratio between the elastic and inelastic scattering rates, the key parameter determining the feasibility of evaporative cooling. We further co-trap and identify collisions between atoms and molecules, paving the way to studies of cold interspecies collisions in a magnetic trap.

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Cited by in corpus (38)

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• Resonant collisional shielding of reactive molecules using electric fields
• Dipolar evaporation of reactive molecules to below the Fermi temperature
• Collisional Cooling of Ultracold Molecules
• Quantum state manipulation and cooling of ultracold molecules
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• Ultracold Sticky Collisions: Theoretical and Experimental Status
• Collisions Between Ultracold Molecules and Atoms in a Magnetic Trap
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• Ultracold ${}^{88}{\mathrm{Sr}}_2$ molecules in the absolute ground state
• Molecular Collisions: from Near-cold to Ultra-cold
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• Collisions in a dual-species magneto-optical trap of molecules and atoms
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• Dynamics of a buffer-gas-loaded, deep optical trap for molecules
• Transfer matrix theory of surface spin echo experiments with molecules
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• Coherence of Symmetry-Protected Rotational Qubits in Cold Polyatomic Molecules
• Electrostatic trapping of N${}_2$ molecules in high Rydberg states
• Near-threshold scaling of resonant inelastic collisions at ultralow temperatures
• Ultracold collisions of the lithium monoxide radical
• Highly spin-polarized molecules via collisional microwave pumping
• Simultaneous Zeeman deceleration of polyatomic free radical with lithium atoms