Zhong-Kun Hu, Yi Ke, Jin-Bo Zhao, Xiao-Bing Deng, and Jun Luo
Phys. Rev. A89, 053428 – Published 29 May 2014
We propose a scheme to decelerate polar molecules by using traveling microwave lattices in a waveguide. Two counterpropagating microwave fields with different frequencies create a traveling microwave lattice and decelerate polar molecules by exploiting their first-order ac Stark shift. During deceleration, molecules are always close to the field maximum, thus reducing the potential particle loss due to nonadiabatic transitions occurring in the low-field region. The method can be used for molecules in a rotational ground state, which is suitable for further sympathetic or evaporative cooling. Numerical trajectory simulations are carried out, and the results show that the phase-space acceptance area is comparable to that of some other deceleration methods.
