UCLA

NH radicals are magnetically trapped and their Zeeman relaxation and energy transport collision cross sections with helium are measured. Continuous buffer-gas loading of the trap is direct from a room-temperature molecular beam. The Zeeman relaxation (inelastic) cross section of magnetically trapped electronic, vibrational, and rotational ground state NH molecules in collisions with He3 is measured to be 3.8±1.1×10-19cm2 at 710 mK. The NH-He energy transport cross section is also measured, indicating a ratio of diffusive to inelastic cross sections of γ=7×104, in agreement with recent theory. © 2007 The American Physical Society.