Abstract
The concept of phase stability in a Stark decelerator ensures that polar molecules can be accelerated, guided, or decelerated without loss; molecules within a certain position and velocity interval are kept together throughout the deceleration process. In this paper the influence of the transverse motion on phase stability in a Stark decelerator is investigated. For typical deceleration experiments—i.e., for high values of the phase angle —the transverse motion considerably enhances the region in phase space for which phase stable deceleration occurs. For low values of , however, the transverse motion reduces the acceptance of a Stark decelerator and unstable regions in phase space appear. These effects are quantitatively explained in terms of a coupling between the longitudinal and transverse motion. The predicted longitudinal acceptance of a Stark decelerator is verified by measurements on a beam of OH radicals passing through a Stark decelerator.
5 More- Received 28 April 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.73.023401
©2006 American Physical Society