Electrostatic trapping of ammonia molecules

The ability to cool and slow atoms with light for subsequent trapping allows investigations of the properties and interactions of the trapped atoms in unprecedented detail. By contrast, the complex structure of molecules prohibits this type of manipulation, but magnetic trapping of calcium hydride molecules thermalized in ultra-cold buffer gas and optical trapping of caesium dimers generated from ultra-cold caesium atoms have been reported. However, these methods depend on the target molecules being paramagnetic or able to form through the association of atoms amenable to laser cooling, respectively, thus restricting the range of species that can be studied. Here we describe the slowing of an adiabatically cooled beam of deuterated ammonia molecules by time-varying inhomogeneous electric fields and subsequent loading into an electrostatic trap. We are able to trap state-selected ammonia molecules with a density of 10(6) cm(-3) in a volume of 0.25 cm3 at temperatures below 0.35 K. We observe pronounced density oscillations caused by the rapid switching of the electric fields during loading of the trap. Our findings illustrate that polar molecules can be efficiently cooled and trapped, thus providing an opportunity to study collisions and collective quantum effects in a wide range of ultra-cold molecular systems.     

统计学:社会的物理学

玻尔 (Ｂｏｈｒ)、玻恩 (Ｂｏｒｎ )和薛定谔(Ｓｃｈｒ ｄｉｎｇｅｒ)于 2 0世纪 2 0年代把概率引入了量子世界的自然本性之中。这一引进搅乱了科学的哲学基础 ,使得一些学者感到非常困惑。然而早在 1 9世纪中期 ,当统计学的思想进入经典物理学的时候 ,关于偶然性、概率和决定论的争论就已经十分激烈了。詹姆斯·克拉克·麦克斯韦 (ＪａｍｅｓＣｌｅｒｋＭａｘｗｅｌｌ)把概率物理学 (ｐｒｏｂａｂｉｌｉｓｔｉｃｐｈｙｓｉｃｓ)带到了神秘主义的边缘 ,他说 :“正是物理科学的某个独特的函数带领我们来到了一个不可理解的事物的边缘 ,并嘱咐…