Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 13, 2026

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving
Published on: March 30, 2017
Fast radiative cooling of anthracene observed in a compact electrostatic storage ring
1Institut Lumière Matière, UMR5306 Université Lyon 1-CNRS, Université de Lyon, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France.
Abstract:
Fast radiative cooling of anthracene was observed in a compact electrostatic storage ring by probing the evolution of the internal energy distribution of a stored (C(14)H(10))(+) molecular ensemble via laser excitation. We have measured the mean radiative decay rate to be about 120 to 250 s(-1) for internal energies in the range from 6.6 to 6.8 eV. Such a high decay rate is 2 orders of magnitude larger than the infrared emission cooling rate expected for vibrational transitions. It is attributed to fluorescence from thermally excited electrons. This fast cooling mechanism may have important implications in astrophysics concerning the lifetime and the critical size of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in interstellar conditions.
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Spectroscopy: Effects of Temperature
At thermal equilibrium, the relative populations of excited and ground state atoms can be estimated using the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. For example, an increase in temperature from...
π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Aromatic and Antiaromatic Compounds
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Overview
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: Radiation and Light Sources
Two common narrow-range 'line' sources used in AAS are hollow-cathode lamps (HCLs) and...
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy: Atomization Methods
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: Lab

