Final Activity Report Summary - SYCOMO (Sympathetic cooling of molecules with ultracold atoms)
We are aiming to combine an existing cold-atom apparatus with a molecular-beam machine in order to pursue sympathetic cooling of molecules with ultracold atoms using spatially overlapped traps. To this end, we have recently demonstrated that a magnetic trap for atoms can be spatially overlapped with an AC electric trap. Moreover, we have experimentally verified that the magnetically trapped atoms are not perturbed by the AC electric fields needed for trapping molecules. Additionally, this year we tested a new design for a Stark decelerator, where the electrodes are made out of tantalum wires. Using this wire decelerator, we were able to remove more than 90 % of the kinetic energy from metastable CO molecules in a beam.