Taka Momose Lab. Taka Momose Lab. Taka Momose Lab.
UBC Chemistry | Faculty of Science | The University of British Columbia
Taka Momose Lab.
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1) Making cold and ultracold molecules
Quantum mechanics predicts various new and/or anomalous phenomena at very low temperature due to the wave nature of particles. One example is the Bose-Einstein Condensation, in which the wavefunctions of all particles in an ensemble overlap completely. After the success of ultracold atom research, it is now widely accepted that ultracold molecules will offer access to completely new possibilities, beyond those offered by cold atoms, to study a wide range of fundamental and practical questions in both physics and chemistry. In our group, we are building apparatuses such as Stark/Zeeman/Optical decelerators and MW/IR optical traps in order to make and trap cold (< 1K) and ultracold ( < 1 mK) molecules starting from room temperature ensembles. Once cold (polyatomic) molecules are successfully created and trapped, we will study;
  1. Cold collisions and ultracold chemical dynamics (in relation to interstellar chemistry)
  2. Coherent control and manipulation of molecules, such as separation of chiral molecules
  3. Molecular quantum computers and qunatum simulations
  4. Molecular matter wave interferometry
  5. Experimental tests of fundamental symmetries of nature and of the time-variation of fundamental constants by precision spectroscopy.
 
Publications
  1. "Stark Velocity Filter for Nonlinear Polar Molecules", H. Tsuji, T. Sekiguchi, T. Mori, T. Momose and H. Kanamori, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 43, 095202 (2010).
  2. "Deceleration of Molecules by Dipole Force Potential: A Numerical Simulation", S. Kuma, and T. Momose New J. Phys. 11, 055023 (2009).
  3. "Microwave Stark decelerator for polar molecules", K. Enomoto and T. Momose Phys. Rev. A 72 , 061403 (R) (2005).
    
[Stark Molecular Decelerator]
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[Zeeman Molecular Decelerator]
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[Superconductor Cavity for MW Decelerator]
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[Velocity Filter]
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[Counter Rotating Nozzle]
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2) Single emitter spectroscopy in cryogenic matrices
Single molecule spectroscopy and microscopy underwent a significant development in two decades. It now spans a wide range of biological and material science questions. A single molecule represents the ultimate limit of detection and also allows sensing applications to the nanometer scale. In quamtum optics the study of single molecules at liquid helium temperatures allow to address fundamental questions in quantum information, such as single photon generation and coherent state preparation. In parallel, a large number of techniques was developed which faciliate the detection and trapping of single ions and atoms in vacuum environments. Here the optical access is often limited and high-numerical-apperture objective cannot be used. Currently, we are developing techniques to detect a single atom isolated in cryogenic solids.
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3) Spectroscopy of molecules in quantum condensed phases
Quantum condensed phases such as solid parahydrogen and superfluid He nano-droplets are the ideal cryogenic matrices for the study of properties and dynamics of cold molecules at around 1 K, since molecules embedded in these quantum condensed phases are well isolated from surrounding environments so that nearly free rotations are observed as in the gas phase. High-resolution spectroscopy of doped molecules in these quantum environment gives us various new information such as dynamics of pure tunneling reactions, and properties of molecular clusters and aggregates. Currently, we are investigating tunneling reaction dynamics in binary reactions at low temperatures, and superfluid nature of molecular hydrogen.
 
Publications
  [Helium Droplets]
  1. "Measurement of the Dynamical Response of a Superfluid via Spectroscopy of the &nu4 Band of CH4 in He Droplets", A. Ravi, S. Kuma, C. Yearwood, B. Kahlon, M. Mustafa, W. Al-Basheer, K. Enomoto, and T. Momose, submitted.
  2. "Laser Induced Fluorescence of Mg-Phthalocyanine in He Droplets: Evidence for Fluxionality of Large H2 Clusters at 0.38 K", S. Kuma, H. Goto, M. N. Slipchenko, A. F. Vilesov, A. Khramov and T. Momose, J. Chem. Phys. 127 , 214301 (2007).
  [Parahydrogen Crystal]
  1. "Nuclear Spin Conversion of Methane in Solid Parahydrogen", Y. Miyamotoi, M. Fushitani, D. Ando and T. Momose, J. Chem. Phys. 128, 114502 (2008).
  2. "Tunneling Chemical Reactions in Solid Parahydrogen: Direct Measurement of the Rate Constants of R + H2 → RH + H (R=CD3, CD2H, CDH2, CH3) at 5K", H. Hoshina, M. Fushitani, T. Momose, and T. Shida, J. Chem. Phys. 120, 3706 (2004).
  3. "Chemical Reactions in Quantum Crystals", T. Momose, M. Fushitani, and H. Hoshina, Int. Rev. Phys. Chem. 24 , 533 (2005).
  4. "High-resolution Spectroscopy and its analysis of ro-vibrational transitions of molecules in solid parahydrogen", T. Momose, H. Hoshina, M. Fushitani, and H. Katsuki, Vib. Spectrosco, 34, 95 (2004).
    
[Solid parahydrogen and high-resolution FT-IR]
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[Helium Nano Droplet Machine]
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4) Coherent Control/Quantum Computation
This project intends to develop new techniques for the manipulation of rotational, vibrational, and electronic states of molecules by laser radiations, which is necessary for the coherent control of molecules and applicaton to quantum information processing. For example, long lifetime of vibrational excited states (>100 ms) allows us to utilize rovibrational states as multi qubits in a single molecule, which could be a potential candidate for the practical realization of quantum computation. We have developed a new IR laser system to realize entanglement of ro-vibrational states of molecules based on the pulse shaping of ultra-fast MIR radiation. We are now investigating properties of the entangled states of molecules in quantum crystal as the first step of this project.
 
Publications
  1. "A cross-correlation frequency-resolved optical gating for mid-infrared femtosecond laser pulses by a AgGaGeS4 crystal", M. Tsubouchi and T. Momose, Opt. Lett. 34, 2447 (2009).
  2. "Pulse-shaping and its characterization of mid-infrared femtosecond pulses: Toward coherent controls of molecules in the ground electronic states", M. Tsubouchi and T. Momose, Opt. Comm. 282, 3757 (2009).
  3. "Rovibrational Wave Packet Manipulation using Shaped Mid-Infrared Femtosecond Pulses Toward Quantum Computation 2: Optimization of Pulse Shape by Generic Algorithm" M. Tsubouchi and T. Momose, Phys. Rev. A. 77, 052326 (2008).
    
[Shaped femtosecond MIR pulse system]
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[Molecular Beam Chamber]
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[MIR Pulse Shaper]
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5) Astrochemsitry
Quite a few molecules has been observed in interstellar space, but their production mechanism is yet to be understood. Since the temperature of molecular clouds is known to be about 10 - 50 K, chemistry in interstellar clouds is expected to be different from that on the earth. We are investigating astronomically important molecules in various molecular clouds using radio-telescopes, such as the Nobeyama 45-m radio-telescope Japan, in order to understand chemical evolution in interstellar space.
 
Publications
  1. "Millimeter-wave spectroscopy of α-alanine", Y. Hirata, S. Kubota, S. Watanabe, T. Momose, and K. Kawaguchi, J. Mol. Spectrosc. 251, 314 (2009).
  2. "Correlation between Nuclear Spin Ratio of Cyclic-C3H2 and Chemical Evolution in TMC-1 Cores", Y. Morisawa, M. Fushitani, Y. Kato, H. Hoshina, Z. Shimizu, Y. Miyamoto, S. Watanabe, T. Momose, Y. Kasai, and K. Kawaguchi, Astrophys. J. 642, 954 (2006).
  3. "Search for the Negative Ions NCO-, NCS-, and CCH- in Molecular Clouds", Y. Morisawa, H. Hoshina, Y. Kato, Z. Shimizu, S. Kuma, N. Sogoshi, M. Fushitani, S. Watanabe, Y. Miyamoto, T. Momose, Y. Kasai, and K. Kawaguchi, Publ. Astron. Soc. Japan, 57, 325 (2005).
  
[Nebeyama 45 m Radio Telescope]
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6) Measurement of the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the neutron
(Collaborative work with TRIUMF) Measurement of an EDM of fundamental particles is a key observation to go beyond the standard-model, as the standard-model value of the EDM is immeasurably small. Therefore, any evidence for an EDM would signify the observation of new physics. We will tackle this problem by observing the electric dipole moment (nEDM) of the neutron. We will develop a ultra-sensitive co-magnetometer for the observation of extremely small nEDM, and apply it to ultra-cold neutron (UCN) produced by a new UCN beam line at TRIUMF.
 
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 Taka Momose Lab.  Last updated : Mar. 20, 2011