Translationally cold and slow ND3 is prepared by filtering the slow molecules from a thermal gas-phase sample using a curved electrostatic hexapole guide. This filter, like the curved quadrupole guide introduced by Rangwala et al. Phys. Rev. A 67 043406 (2003) selects molecules by their forward velocity and effective electric dipole moment. Here we describe two main modifications with respect to previous work: (1) A segmented hexapole guide is used that produces a harmonic potential for the linearly Stark-shifted levels of ND3. A curved guide is combined with a straight hexapole guide, and independent high-voltage supplies are employed to allow for bandpass velocity filtering. (2) State-selective laser ionization is used to obtain time- and state-selective detection of the guided molecules. This enables the experimental determination of the rotational state population of the guided molecules.
Drazen Dujic, Andrea Cervone, Tianyu Wei
Drazen Dujic, Andrea Cervone, Jules Christian Georges Macé, Max Dupont, Renan Pillon Barcelos