Novel electrostatic trap for cold polar molecules

We propose a novel scheme in which cold polar molecules are trapped by an electrostatic field generated by the combination of a pair of parallel transparent electrodes (i.e., two infinite transparent plates) and a ring electrode (i.e., a ring wire). The spatial distributions of the electrostatic fields from the above charged wire and the charged plates and the corresponding Stark potentials for cold CO molecules are calculated; the dependences of the trap centre position on the geometric parameters of the electrode are analysed. We also discuss the loading process of cold molecules from a cold molecular beam into our trap. This study shows that the proposed scheme is not only simple and convenient to trap, manipulate and control cold polar molecules in weak-field-seeking states, but also provides an opportunity to study cold collisions and collective quantum effects in a variety of cold molecular systems, etc.