Electrostatic trapping vibrationally excited Rydberg NO molecules

Nitric oxide (NO) molecules travelling in pulsed supersonic beams have been laser photoexcited to long-lived Rydberg states in series converging to the lowest lying, v+=0, and first excited, v+=1, vibrational states in the ground electronic state of NO+. After excitation, the molecules were decelerated in the travelling electric traps of a chip-based Rydberg–Stark decelerator. Deceleration to rest in the laboratory-fixed frame of reference allowed subsequent electrostatic trapping before in situ detection by pulsed electric field ionisation. The decay rates of the molecules from the traps were measured for states with principal quantum numbers between 32 and 48. Comparison of the corresponding trap decay time constants, ranging from 245 to 400μs for states with v+=1, with those recorded for molecules in states with v+=0, allowed bounds to be placed on the vibrational autoionisation rates of the ℓ-mixed Stark states prepared in the experiments of