Electrostatic quadrupole lens for focusing a cryogenic 205TlF molecular beam
Abstract
Precision measurements with molecules require molecular beams with high flux and narrow divergence. Here we present the design, implementation, and characterization of an electrostatic quadrupole lens (EQL) for focusing a cryogenic beam of 205TlF molecules. The EQL consists of four electrodes operated at spatially alternating potentials up to ± 30 kV. This configuration generates a transverse restoring force that focuses molecules prepared in selected manifold of hyperfine states. At the optimal applied voltage, the EQL increases the detected molecular signal by a factor of 14.4(4) at the current detection position. The measured lens gain, transverse Doppler spectra, and transverse spatial profiles are all reproduced by trajectory simulations using independently measured beam parameters as input. Based on this agreement, we project a gain of 16.5(8) for the full 7.9 m CeNTREX beamline. These results establish the EQL as a key component for increasing sensitivity in precision experiments using cryogenic beams of polar molecules.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhou2026electrostatic,
title = {{Electrostatic quadrupole lens for focusing a cryogenic $^205$TlF molecular beam}},
author = {Pengyu Zhou and Olivier Grasdijk and David DeMille and Jakob Kastelic and David Kawall and Jianhui Li and Oskari Timgren and Konrad Wenz and Yuanhang Yang and Tanya Zelevinsky},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.17915},
eprint = {2609.17915},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17915},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Electrostatic quadrupole lens for focusing a cryogenic ^205TlF molecular beam
AU - Pengyu Zhou
AU - Olivier Grasdijk
AU - David DeMille
AU - Jakob Kastelic
AU - David Kawall
AU - Jianhui Li
AU - Oskari Timgren
AU - Konrad Wenz
AU - Yuanhang Yang
AU - Tanya Zelevinsky
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.17915
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.17915
AB - Precision measurements with molecules require molecular beams with high flux and narrow divergence. Here we present the design, implementation, and characterization of an electrostatic quadrupole lens (EQL) for focusing a cryogenic beam of ^205TlF molecules. The EQL consists of four electrodes operated at spatially alternating potentials up to ± 30 kV. This configuration generates a transverse restoring force that focuses molecules prepared in selected manifold of hyperfine states. At the optimal applied voltage, the EQL increases the detected molecular signal by a factor of 14.4(4) at the current detection position. The measured lens gain, transverse Doppler spectra, and transverse spatial profiles are all reproduced by trajectory simulations using independently measured beam parameters as input. Based on this agreement, we project a gain of 16.5(8) for the full 7.9 m CeNTREX beamline. These results establish the EQL as a key component for increasing sensitivity in precision experiments using cryogenic beams of polar molecules.
ER -