Electrostatic trapping vibrationally excited Rydberg NO molecules

Nitric oxide (NO) molecules travelling in pulsed supersonic beams have been laser photoexcited to long-lived Rydberg states in series converging to the lowest lying, v(+)=0 v(+)=0, and first excited, v(+)=1 v(+)=1, vibrational states in the ground electronic state of NO+ . After excitation, the molecules were decelerated in the travelling electric traps of a chip-based Rydberg-Stark decelerator. Deceleration to rest in the laboratory-fixed frame of reference allowed subsequent electrostatic trapping before in situ detection by pulsed electric field ionisation. The decay rates of the molecules from the traps were measured for states with principal quantum numbers between 32 and 48. Comparison of the corresponding trap decay time constants, ranging from 245 to 400 mu s for states with v(+) = 1, with those recorded for molecules in states with v(+)=0, allowed bounds to be placed on the vibrationalautoioni sation rates of the l-mixed Stark states prepared in the experiments of < 60 Hz.

Automated summary

In this study, nitric oxide (NO) molecules were excited to long-lived Rydberg states using laser in pulsed supersonic beams. The molecules were then decelerated and trapped using a chip-based Rydberg-Stark decelerator and detected in situ by pulsed electric field ionization. The decay rates of the molecules from the traps were measured for different vibrational states, allowing the determination of the vibrational autoionization rates of the prepared Stark states.