Helium liquefier system for research on ultracold molecules

用于超冷分子研究的氦液化系统

• 批准号: 374577-2009
• 负责人: Momose, Takamasa
• 金额: $ 10.74万
• 依托单位: University of British Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2008-01-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=411964
• 关键词: Helium; liquefier; system; research; ultracold

Ultracold molecule research has grown explosively in the last five years as a natural extension of ultracold atom research, which began more than 25 years ago based on the technological breakthroughs in laser cooling. Ultracold atoms below 1 micro-kelvin (uK), completely novel states of matter, have been proved to offer new possibilities in studying a wide range of fundamental problems in physics. It is now widely accepted that ultracold molecules possess significantly better potential than ultracold atoms to address various problems in fundamental and applied sciences in both physics and chemistry. They range from test of fundamental symmetry in nature to interstellar chemistry, as well as application to quantum computation. Ensembles of ultracold molecules are therefore a treasury of new frontiers in both chemistry and physics, completely unavailable by any other means. Since it is still difficult to create cold molecular gases below 1 K, the primary focus of our research is on the development of a new technique of making ultracold molecules, having a broad range of applications of cold molecules in mind. In this project, we will construct a liquid helium liqueifier and its recovery system, which are essential and indispensable tools to build apparatuses for making ultracold molecular gases. Liquid helium produced by the system will be used for the pre-cooling of molecules, which will follow an optical cooling of molecules based on our original idea to achieve temperature of molecules at 1 uK. In addition, the proposed system is designed to keep radiation shields of the apparatus at 4.2 K all the time with minimum loss of novel helium gases in order to avoid warming of ultracold molecules by blackbody radiations. Currently, UBC does not posseses its own liquefier, so the construction of a helium liquefier system is indispensable to challenge the ultracold molecule research at UBC. Without the system, it is not possible to make breakthroughs in the creation of ultracold molecules to obtain initiative in this emerging research field. The requested funding would enable research on cold systems at UBC efficiently, and would make UBC a leading center in the world for the study of ultracold molecules.

作为超冷原子研究的自然延伸，超冷分子研究在过去五年中爆炸性增长，超冷原子研究始于25年前，基于激光冷却技术的突破。 低于1微开尔文（uK）的超冷原子是一种全新的物质状态，已被证明为研究物理学中广泛的基本问题提供了新的可能性。现在人们普遍认为，超冷分子比超冷原子具有更好的潜力，可以解决物理和化学基础科学和应用科学中的各种问题。 它们的范围从自然界基本对称性的测试到星际化学，以及量子计算的应用。因此，超冷分子的集合体是化学和物理学新领域的宝库，是任何其他手段都无法获得的。由于仍然很难创造低于1 K的冷分子气体，我们研究的主要重点是开发一种制造超冷分子的新技术，并考虑到冷分子的广泛应用。 在本计画中，我们将建构一个液氦液化器及其回收系统，这是建立超冷分子气体制造装置不可或缺的重要工具。该系统产生的液氦将用于分子的预冷却，这将遵循基于我们最初想法的分子光学冷却，以实现1 uK的分子温度。 此外，所提出的系统被设计为保持辐射屏蔽的设备在4.2 K的所有时间与新的氦气的最小损失，以避免超冷分子的黑体辐射变暖。目前，UBC还没有自己的氦净化器，因此，建立氦净化器系统对UBC的超冷分子研究提出了挑战。 如果没有该系统，就不可能在创造超冷分子方面取得突破，从而在这一新兴研究领域获得主动权。申请的资金将使UBC的冷系统研究有效，并将使UBC成为世界上研究超冷分子的领先中心。