2006/12/31 by Steven Hoekstra, Joop J. Gilijamse, Boris G. Sartakov +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.98.133001
published as Phys.Rev.Lett. 98 133001 (2007) · corrected small mistakes; added journal reference.
openalex publication_date 2007/03/30 · arxiv created 2007/04/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Optical pumping by blackbody radiation is a feature shared by all polar molecules and fundamentally limits the time that these molecules can be kept in a single quantum state in a trap. To demonstrate and quantify this, we have monitored the optical pumping of electrostatically trapped OH and OD radicals by room-temperature blackbody radiation. Transfer of these molecules to rotationally excited states by blackbody radiation at 295 K limits the 1/e trapping time for OH and OD in the X(2)Pi(3/2), v" =0, J"=3/2(f) state to 2.8 and 7.1 s, respectively.