Rapid Molecular Transport in Pulsed Optical Lattices

We show that molecules can be rapidly transported using large optical lattices (500 K) using high intensity (2 x 10$^{16}$ W/m$^{2})$ far off resonant pulsed optical lattices. Using this method we have decelerated benzene molecules from a cold (2.3 K) molecular beam from 320 m/s to 243 m/s, exceeding earlier results using a single focused Gaussian beam$^{[1]}$.$^{ }$This corresponds to an average deceleration of 10$^{9}$g, reducing the translational energy of the benzene molecules by 48{\%}. These results indicate that if the field is rapidly switched-off a significant fraction of the molecules could be brought to rest in a single 2 ns pulse. References: [1] R. Fulton, A.I. Bishop, P.F. Barker. Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{93}, 243004 (2004)