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Production and deceleration of a pulsed beam of metastable NH (alpha(1)Delta) radicals

We report on the production of a pulsed molecular beam of metastable NH (a1
) radicals and present first results on the Stark deceleration of the NH (a1
, J = 2, M = − 4) radicals from 550 m s− 1 to 330 m s− 1. The decelerated molecules are excited on the spin-forbidden A3 ← a1
transition, and detected via their subsequent spontaneous fluorescence to the X3− , v = 0 ground state. These experiments demonstrate the feasibility of our recently proposed scheme (2001 Phys. Rev. A 64 041401) to accumulate ground-state NH radicals in a magnetic trap. In addition, we propose to transfer the NH radicals from the a1
state to the X3− state using a cw-laser to allow cooling of the beam during trap loading.

cold molecules; magnetic trap; NH; Stark deceleration

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