Can Nitric Oxide be Evaporatively Cooled in its Ground State?

Abstract

Cold collisions of $^{14}$N$^{16}$O molecules in the $^{2}\Pi_{1/2}$ ground state, subject to electric and magnetic fields, are investigated. It is found that elastic collision rates significantly exceed state-changing inelastic rates only at temperatures above 0.5 K at laboratory strength fields. It is found, however, that in very large fields $> 10^{4}$ V/cm, inelastic rates can be somewhat suppressed. Magnetic fields have negligible influence on scattering for this nearly non-magnetic state.