dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaOptical pumping of trapped neutral molecules by blackbody radiation
| Authors | Steven Hoekstra, Joop J. Gilijamse, Boris Sartakov, Nicolas Vanhaecke, Ludwig Scharfenberg, Sebastiaan Y. T. van de Meerakker, Gerard Meijer |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0612214 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0612214 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.133001 |
| Journal | Phys.Rev.Lett. 98 133001 (2007) |
Abstract
Optical pumping by blackbody radiation is a feature shared by all polar molecules and fundamentally limits the time that these molecules can be kept in a single quantum state in a trap. To demonstrate and quantify this, we have monitored the optical pumping of electrostatically trapped OH and OD radicals by room-temperature blackbody radiation. Transfer of these molecules to rotationally excited states by blackbody radiation at 295 K limits the $1/e$ trapping time for OH and OD in the $X^{2}\Pi_{3/2},v''=0,J''=3/2(f)$ state to 2.8 s and 7.1 s, respectively.
{
"annotation_id": "f93ab198-880e-4a1f-ae49-1fd8ac97d7e3",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:14.984000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:14.984000Z",
"file_hash": "78d844d3893cc7f1a59a7ce5efeb68b9e3f420033e0ee810c385332859b17b61",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Optical pumping by blackbody radiation is a feature shared by all polar\nmolecules and fundamentally limits the time that these molecules can be kept in\na single quantum state in a trap. To demonstrate and quantify this, we have\nmonitored the optical pumping of electrostatically trapped OH and OD radicals\nby room-temperature blackbody radiation. Transfer of these molecules to\nrotationally excited states by blackbody radiation at 295 K limits the $1/e$\ntrapping time for OH and OD in the $X^{2}\\Pi_{3/2},v\u0027\u0027=0,J\u0027\u0027=3/2(f)$ state to\n2.8 s and 7.1 s, respectively.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0612214",
"authors": [
"Steven Hoekstra",
"Joop J. Gilijamse",
"Boris Sartakov",
"Nicolas Vanhaecke",
"Ludwig Scharfenberg",
"Sebastiaan Y. T. van de Meerakker",
"Gerard Meijer"
],
"categories": [
"physics.atom-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.133001",
"journal_ref": "Phys.Rev.Lett. 98 133001 (2007)",
"title": "Optical pumping of trapped neutral molecules by blackbody radiation",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0612214"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "2ba2e5a7-6224-4460-8dd4-88c7af097dd0",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}