Taming molecular beams
Prof. Gerard Meijer (Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin)

Getting ever better control over gas-phase molecules is an important research theme and drives progress in the field of molecular physics. The motion of polar molecules in a beam can be manipulated with inhomogeneous electric and magnetic fields. Static fields can be used to deflect or focus molecules, whereas time-varying fields can be used to decelerate or accelerate beams of molecules to any desired velocity.

I will give an overview of the fascinating new possibilities that this molecular beam technology presently offers, ranging from novel scattering experiments and lifetime measurements on trapped molecules to the preparation of pure samples of selected structural isomers [1]. The miniaturization of electric field structures enables the manipulation of polar molecules at close distance from a surface, and I will report on the progress in creating a molecular laboratory on a chip [2].

[1] S.Y.T. van de Meerakker, H.L. Bethlem, and G. Meijer, Nature Physics 4, (2008) 595.

[2] S.A. Meek, H. Conrad, and G. Meijer, Science 324, (2009) 1699.