Suppression of nonadiabatic losses of molecules from chip-based microtraps

Abstract

Polar molecules in selected quantum states can be guided, decelerated and trapped using electric fields created by microstructured electrodes on a chip. Here we explore how non-adiabatic transitions between levels in which the molecules are trapped and levels in which the molecules are not trapped can be suppressed. We use 12-CO and 13-CO (a 3-Pi(1), v=0) molecules, prepared in the upper Lambda-doublet component of the J=1 rotational level, and study the trap loss as a function of an offset magnetic field. The experimentally observed suppression (enhancement) of the non-adiabatic transitions for 12-CO (13-CO) with increasing magnetic field is quantitatively explained.