Generation of cold CO and O photo-fragments in external fields from Stark-decelerated SO2 and trapping of the particles

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Christian Lisdat
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2009 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 84579730

A simple chemical reaction, namely photodissociation, will be investigated with cold SO2 molecules. The cold SO2 is produced by Stark deceleration of molecules in a seeded supersonic beam. The decelerator makes use of the force on the permanent electric dipole moment of SO2 generated by spatially inhomogeneous and time-varying electrical fields to slow down the translational motion of the molecules. The predissociation of appropriately selected excited levels of SO2 generates translationally and internally cold fragments SO and O.The excess energy of the fragments will be tuned by external fields to produce fragments with low kinetic energy. The different sensitivity of SO2 and its photo-fragments to static electric and magnetic fields will be employed to accumulate fragments in a trap with conservative potential. The accumulation of cold molecules in a conservative trap will be an important step for future experiments in the direction of cold reactive collisions and cold chemistry. The trapped particles can later be used for a proof of principle experiment along these lines. Also, experiments for high precision spectroscopy for fundamental research become possible.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Eberhard Tiemann