EPJ Techn Instrum (2015) 2: 10
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjti/s40485-015-0022-x

Review

Merged neutral beams

Institute for Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, 1015, Switzerland

^* e-mail: andreas.osterwalder@epfl.ch

Received: 29 April 2015
Accepted: 7 July 2015
Published online: 25 July 2015

Abstract

A detailed description of a merged beam apparatus for the study of low energy molecular scattering is given. This review is intended to guide any scientist who plans to construct a similar experiment, and to provide some inspiration in describing the approach we chose to our goal. In our experiment a supersonic expansion of paramagnetic particles is merged with one of polar molecules. A magnetic and an electric multipole guide are used to bend the two beams onto the same axis. We here describe in detail how the apparatus is designed, characterised, and operated.