title: Creation of cold nitric oxide by extraction of the cold fraction of a thermal distribution.
abstract: We describe a device using the Stark effect to extract the cold fraction of nitric oxide molecules from a warmer thermal distribution. Room temperature NO is cryogenically cooled to 72-82 K and injected into a straight, hexapole guide that uses the Stark effect. By blocking line-of-sight trajectories from the input to the output, primarily the slowest molecules are guided around the obstruction and are transferred into a new chamber. We measure the temperature distribution using a field-stabilized Rydberg time-of-flight technique. A superposition of molecular Rydberg states is excited, sufficiently increasing the lifetime of the excited state for a time-of-flight measurement for cold molecular samples. We produce a continuous source of nitric oxide with temperatures ranging from 7 to 20 K in the lowest ro-vibrational state. The output temperature is controlled by the initial temperature distribution and the guide voltage.
authors.affiliation: Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
authors.forename: Bryan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Bichsel
authors.affiliation: Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.affiliation: Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
authors.forename: Parshuram
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dahal
authors.affiliation: Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.affiliation: Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
authors.forename: Neil E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Shafer-Ray
authors.affiliation: Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
authors.forename: E R I
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Abraham