No Arabic abstract
Using calculations and mathematical modeling, we demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a synchrotron storage ring for neutral polar molecules. The lattice is a racetrack type 3.6 m in circumference consisting of two of 180-degree arcs, six bunchers, and two long straight sections. Each straight section contains two triplet focusing lenses and space for beam injection and experiments. The design also includes a matched injector and a linear decelerator. Up to 60 bunches can be loaded and simultaneously stored in the ring. The molecules are injected at 90 m/s but the velocity of the circulating beam can be decelerated to 60 m/s after injection. The modeling uses deuterated ammonia molecules in a weak-field seeking state. Beam that survives 400 turns (15 s), has horizontal and vertical acceptances of 35 mm-mr and 70 mm-mr respectively, and an energy acceptance of plus or minus 2%.
This project exploits charged particles confined as a storage ring beam (proton, deuteron, possibly $^3$He) to search for an intrinsic electric dipole moment (EDM, $vec d$) aligned along the particle spin axis. Statistical sensitivities can approach $10^{-29}$~e$cdot$cm. The challenge will be to reduce systematic errors to similar levels. The ring will be adjusted to preserve the spin polarization, initially parallel to the particle velocity, for times in excess of 15 minutes. Large radial electric fields, acting through the EDM, will rotate the polarization ($vec d timesvec E$). The slow rise in the vertical polarization component, detected through scattering from a target, signals the EDM. The project strategy is outlined. It foresees a step-wise plan, starting with ongoing COSY activities that demonstrate technical feasibility. Achievements to date include reduced polarization measurement errors, long horizontal-plane polarization lifetimes, and control of the polarization direction through feedback from the scattering measurements. The project continues with a proof-of-capability measurement (precursor experiment; first direct deuteron EDM measurement), an intermediate prototype ring (proof-of-principle; demonstrator for key technologies), and finally the high precision electric-field storage ring.
We report on an injection feedback scheme for the ThomX storage ring project. ThomX is a 50-MeV-electron accelerator prototype which will use Compton backscattering in a storage ring to generate a high flux of hard X-rays. Given the slow beam damping (in the ring), the injection must be performed with high accuracy to avoid large betatron oscillations. A homemade analytic code is used to compute the corrections that need to be applied before the beam injection to achieve a beam position accuracy of a few hundred micrometers in the first beam position monitors (BPMs). In order to do so the code needs the information provided by the rings diagnostic devices. The iterative feedback system has been tested using MadX simulations. Our simulations show that a performance that matches the BPMs accuracy can be achieved in less than 50 iterations in all cases. Details of this feedback algorithm, its efficiency and the simulations are discussed.
Recently, a decelerator for neutral polar molecules has been presented that operates on the basis of macroscopic, three-dimensional, traveling electrostatic traps (Osterwalder et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 051401 (2010)). In the present paper, a complete description of this decelerator is given, with emphasis on the electronics and the mechanical design. Experimental results showing the transverse velocity distributions of guided molecules are shown and compared to trajectory simulations. An assessment of non-adiabatic losses is made by comparing the deceleration signals from 13-CO with those from 12-CO and with simulated signals.
We present a versatile electric trap for the exploration of a wide range of quantum phenomena in the interaction between polar molecules. The trap combines tunable fields, homogeneous over most of the trap volume, with steep gradient fields at the trap boundary. An initial sample of up to 10^8 CH3F molecules is trapped for as long as 60 seconds, with a 1/e storage time of 12 seconds. Adiabatic cooling down to 120 mK is achieved by slowly expanding the trap volume. The trap combines all ingredients for opto-electrical cooling, which, together with the extraordinarily long storage times, brings field-controlled quantum-mechanical collision and reaction experiments within reach.
We demonstrate the production of ultracold polar RbCs molecules in their vibronic ground state, via photoassociation of laser-cooled atoms followed by a laser-stimulated state transfer process. The resulting sample of $X ^1Sigma^+ (v=0)$ molecules has a translational temperature of $sim100 mu$K and a narrow distribution of rotational states. With the method described here it should be possible to produce samples even colder in all degrees of freedom, as well as other bi-alkali species.