Optical microlinear accelerator for molecules and atoms

The traveling periodic dipole potential of an accelerated optical lattice, created by high-intensity short-pulse lasers, can accelerate polarizable atoms and molecules that are initially at room temperature to hyperthermal velocities (10–100 km/s). We study the acceleration of trapped and untrapped ensembles of particles and show that a significant fraction (30%) of uniformly distributed particles can be accelerated to high velocities over micron-size distances, within nanosecond and subnanosecond time scales.