Deceleration of SO2: Photodissociation of slow molecules and generation of cold SO and O

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Eberhard Tiemann
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2003 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5407330

The general aim of this proposal over the whole funding period is to generate a cold molecular sample by deceleration of SO2 to a standstill. Simple chemical reactions like photodissociation will be later investigated with these molecules. The decelerator makes use of the force on the permanent electric dipole moment of SO2 generated by spatially inhomogeneous and timevarying electrical fields to slow down the translational motion of the molecules in a series of steps. The predissociation of appropriate excited levels of SO2 generates translationally and internally cold fragments SO and O. The recently developed technique of decelerating polar molecules was demonstrated for few light molecules. Its application on the heavy SO2 molecule is a great challenge. A dense and slow SO2 beam is essential to perform these types of experiments. The characteristics of the beam strongly influence the design and feasibility of the decelerator. Consequently a thorough investigation of these topics will constitute one goal of our experiments for the first two years of the proposal. The detection of SO2 will be performed by photo-ionisation. This SO2 beam will be focussed with a pulsed electric hexapole, which is the first stage of a decelerator apparatus.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1116: Interactions in ultracold and molecular gases
• Participating Person: Privatdozent Dr. Christian Lisdat