Controllable electrostatic surface guide for cold molecules with a single charged wire

We demonstrate a controllable highly efficient electrostatic surface guide for ND₃ molecules in the weak-field-seeking states on a ceramic substrate over a distance of 840 mm, and study the dependences of the relative molecule number (or the overall transmission efficiency) of our single-wire guide and the guiding-center positions on the guiding voltages, both experimentally and theoretically. Our study shows that the guiding-center position and the number of the guided molecules can be easily controlled by adjusting the guiding voltages, and find that an overall transmission efficiency of higher than 50% in a single quantum state can be obtained. Our experimental results are consistent with ones of Monte Carlo simulations. Also, we discuss the transverse velocity filtering effect and the acceptance of the guided molecules in four-dimensional phase space. Both the transmission efficiency and the acceptance in two-dimensional position space are higher than that in our previous two-wire guide.