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arXiv · 0811.4123

Nonadiabatic transitions in electrostatically trapped ammonia molecules

Moritz Kirste·Boris Saratakov·Melanie Schnell·Gerard Meijer
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Abstract

Nonadiabatic transitions are known to be major loss channels for atoms in magnetic traps, but have thus far not been experimentally reported upon for trapped molecules. We have observed and quantified losses due to nonadiabatic transitions for three isotopologues of ammonia in electrostatic traps, by comparing the trapping times in traps with a zero and a non-zero electric field at the center. Nonadiabatic transitions are seen to dominate the overall loss rate even for samples at relatively high temperatures of 10-50 mK.

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Moritz Kirste, Boris Saratakov, Melanie Schnell, Gerard Meijer. 2009-06-18. Nonadiabatic transitions in electrostatically trapped ammonia molecules. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.79.051401

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