Detection and manipulation of the transverse motion of neutral molecules in a Stark decelerator

By enabling precise control over longitudinal velocity of neutral molecules, Stark deceleration has become an important tool for studying cold molecular collisions. However, the information about transverse motion is often hard to extract and to some extent beyond control. Here we demonstrate a new experimental approach that allows us to observe the transverse phase-space distribution of molecules within a Stark decelerator. The transverse...