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Abstract

Polar molecules in selected quantum states can be guided, decelerated, and trapped using electric fields created by microstructured electrodes on a chip. Here we explore how nonadiabatic transitions between levels in which the molecules are trapped and levels in which the molecules are not trapped can be suppressed. We use ¹²CO and ¹³CO (a ³Π₁,v=0) molecules, prepared in the upper Λ-doublet component of the J=1 rotational level, and study the trap loss as a function of an offset magnetic field. The experimentally observed suppression (enhancement) of the nonadiabatic transitions for ¹²CO (¹³CO) with increasing magnetic field is quantitatively explained.