Eur. Phys. J. D 41, 499-504 (2007)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2006-00251-7

Collisions between linear polar molecules trapped in a microwave field

¹ National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8795, Japan
² Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, Obninsk, Kaluga region, 249033, Russia

Corresponding author: ^a kajita@nict.go.jp

Received: 14 November 2005
Revised: 23 February 2006
Published online: 15 November 2006

Abstract

The collisions between linear polar molecules, trapped in a microwave field with circular polarization, are theoretically analyzed. We demonstrate that the collisional dynamics is mostly controlled by two ratios ν/B and x=μ₀E₀/ħ B (ν is the microwave frequency, B is the molecular rotational constant, μ₀ is the dipole moment, and E₀ is the electric field amplitude). We discuss the dependence of collision cross sections on these ratios in order to find an advantageous condition for evaporative cooling.