A superconducting Fabry–Perot microwave cavity for a molecular trap was designed, constructed and characterized. The cavity was designed to create intense microwave fields that are sufficient to trap cold polar molecules by the AC Stark force. By coating the mirror surfaces with a superconducting material, an unloaded quality factor of up to 1.1 10⁶ at 24.087GHz was achieved at a temperature of 2.24K. The field strength of 1.06 MVm⁻¹ obtained for a TEM₀₂ transverse mode with an input power of 10W is sufficiently intense to trap ammonia molecules at a temperature of 85 mK, which is achievable by a conventional Stark molecular decelerator. We have also implemented an ion optics assembly for sensitive detection of molecules inside the microwave cavity by resonance enhanced multi-photon ionization.

设计，构建和表征了用于分子阱的超导法布里-珀罗微波腔。该腔被设计为产生强烈的微波场，该场足以通过AC Stark力捕获冷极性分子。通过用超导材料涂覆镜面，在2.24K的温度下，在24.087GHz处可获得高达1.1 10 ⁶的空载品质因数。TEM ₀₂的场强为1.06 MVm ^-1输入功率为10W的横向模式足够强，足以捕获85 mK温度下的氨分子，这是常规Stark分子减速器可实现的。我们还实现了一种离子光学组件，用于通过共振增强的多光子电离技术灵敏地检测微波腔体内的分子。