Generation of CW cold CHCN molecular beam by a bent electostatic quadrupole guiding: Monte-Carlo study

Abstract

A new kind of continuous-wave (CW) cold molecular beam, methyl cyanide (CH₃CN) beam, is generated by a bent electrostatic quadrupole guiding. The Stark shift of rotational energy levels of CH₃CN molecule and its population distribution are calculated, and the dynamic processes of electrostatic guiding and energy filtering of CH₃CN molecules from a gas source with room temperature (300 K) are simulated by Monte Carlo Method. The study showed that the longitudinal and transversal temperatures of output cold CH₃CN beam could be about ∼ 2 K and ∼ 420 mK, and the corresponding guiding efficiency was about 10^-5 as the guiding voltage was 3 kV. Furthermore, the temperature of the guided molecules and its guiding efficiency can be controlled by adjusting the guiding voltages applied on electrodes.

Keywords

trapping, Zeeman and Stark effect, atomic and molecular beam sources and techniques, methyl cyanide