https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2004-00166-3
A quasi-analytic model of a linear Stark accelerator/decelerator for polar molecules
Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Faradayweg 4-6, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Corresponding author: a bretislav.friedrich@fhi-berlin.mpg.de
Received:
11
August
2004
Published online:
23
November
2004
This article describes a quasi-analytic model of a linear Stark accelerator/decelerator for polar molecules in both their low- and high-field seeking states, and examines the dynamics of the acceleration/deceleration process and its phase stability. The requisite time-dependent inhomogeneous Stark fields, used in current experiments, are Fourier-analyzed and found to consist of a superposition of partial waves with well-defined phase velocities. The kinematics of the interaction of molecules with the partial waves is discussed and the notion of a phase of a molecule in a travelling field is introduced. Next, the net potential and the net force that act on the molecules are derived. A special case, the first-harmonic accelerator/decelerator, is introduced. This represents a model system many of whose properties can be obtained analytically. The first-harmonic accelerator/decelerator dynamics is presented and discussed along with that of the isomorphic biased-pendulum problem. Finally, the general properties of the velocity of the molecules in a phase-stable accelerator/decelerator are examined.
PACS: 32.60.+i – Zeeman and Stark effects / 39.10.+j – Atomic and molecular beam sources and techniques / 45.50.-j – Dynamics and kinematics of a particle and a system of particles / 29.17.+w – Electrostatic, collective, and linear accelerators
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2004
