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A versatile electrostatic trap with open optical access

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Abstract

A versatile electrostatic trap with open optical access for cold polar molecules in weak-field-seeking state is proposed in this paper. The trap is composed of a pair of disk electrodes and a hexapole. With the help of a finite element software, the spatial distribution of the electrostatic field is calculated. The results indicate that a three-dimensional closed electrostatic trap is formed. Taking ND3 molecules as an example, the dynamic process of loading and trapping is simulated. The results show that when the velocity of the molecular beam is 10 m/s and the loading time is 0.9964 ms, the maximum loading efficiency reaches 94.25% and the temperature of the trapped molecules reaches about 30.3 mK. A single well can be split into two wells, which is of significant importance to the precision measurement and interference of matter waves. This scheme, in addition, can be further miniaturized to construct one-dimensional, two-dimensional, and three-dimensional spatial electrostatic lattices.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11504318).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of New Energy and Electronic Engineering, Yancheng Teachers University, Yancheng, 224007, China

    Sheng-Qiang Li  (李胜强)

  2. State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Jian-Ping Yin  (印建平)

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  1. Sheng-Qiang Li  (李胜强)
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Correspondence to Sheng-Qiang Li  (李胜强).

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Li, SQ., Yin, JP. A versatile electrostatic trap with open optical access. Front. Phys. 13, 133701 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-017-0727-1

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