A wide-open molecular magnetic trap for collision studies

Cold molecular collision studies hold the potential of revolutionizing our understanding of chemical and molecular dynamics, both on Earth and astrophysically. Toward this end, we have developed and implemented a magneto-electrostatic trap with near-360\r{ }circumferential access for optical or molecular beam probes. The trap has demonstrated almost optimal loading efficiency, yielding a trapped density of 10$^{6}$ cm$^{-3}$ at a temperature of 70 mK. We also report further progress towards the goal of cold molecular collisions.