			15min:

MAGNETIC TRAPPING OF ³ Sigma

MOLECULES AND TIME-DOMAIN MEASUREMENT OF VIBRATIONAL LIFETIMES.

WESLEY C. CAMPBELL, MATTHEW T. HUMMON, HSIN-I LU, LAURENS D. VAN BUUREN, EDEM TSIKATA AND JOHN M. DOYLE, Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms, Cambridge, MA 02138.

NH molecular radicals are magnetically trapped using helium buffer-gas loading at sim 600 mK. The helium collision Zeeman relaxation and energy transport cross sections are measured, and the ratio of these cross sections is sigma _\mathrmd/ sigma _\mathrmin = 7 × 10⁴, sufficient for trap lifetimes of order 1 s. The scaling of the helium-induced Zeeman relaxation of ³ Sigma molecules is investigated by changing the radical rotational constant through isotopic substitution. We also measure the spontaneous emission lifetime of NH(X, v=1), providing a precision measurement of this transition strength for the astrophysical community.