Design and Applications of a Zeeman-Sisyphus Decelerator

Over the past decade, radiative slowing methods have been successfully applied to diatomic and, recently, triatomic molecules with highly diagonal Frank-Condon factors. Alternative slowing methods are needed for molecules that are less favorable for scattering the ~10,000 photons required for radiative slowing. Here, we provide the technical details of a superconducting-magnet-based Zeeman-Sisyphus decelerator that requires fewer than 10 photon scatters to slow molecules to velocities suitable for loading a MOT, magnetic, or electric trap. We describe the design considerations, apparatus construction, and application of the slower to both CaOH and YbOH molecular beams. We also discuss the generalizability of this slowing method to increasingly complex molecular species.