Increase in the probability of passing molecules through a cooled multichannel plate as induced by a high-power infrared laser

It has been found that molecules (e.g., SF₆, CF₃I) excited in a molecualr beam by intense infrared laser radiation into high vibrational states (with energy E _v ≥ 0.5–2.0 eV) pass through a multichannel metal plate, which is cooled to T _s ≅ 80–85 K and inclined to the beam axis, much more efficiently than unexcited (vibrationally cold) molecules. This property provides the possibility of separating excited and unexcited molecules in the beam. The method is described and the first experimental results are reported.