Magnetic Trapping of Cold Methyl Radicals
  We have demonstrated that a supersonic beam of methyl radicals (CH$_3$) in the ground rotational state of both $para$ and $ortho$ species has been slowed down to standstill with a magnetic molecular decelerator, and successfully captured spatially in an anti-Helmholtz magnetic trap for $>$ 1 s. The trapped CH$_3$ radicals have a mean translational temperature of about 200 mK with an estimated density of $>5.0\times10^7$ cm$^{-3}$. The methyl radical is an ideal system for the study of cold molecules not only because of its high reactivities at low temperatures, but also because further cooling below 1 mK is plausible via sympathetic cooling with ultracold atoms. The demonstrated trapping capability of methyl radicals opens up various possibilities for realizing ultracold ensembles of molecules towards Bose-Einstein condensation of polyatomic molecules and investigations of reactions governed by quantum statistics. 
Yang Liu, Manish Vashishta, Pavle Djuricanin, Sida Zhou, Wei Zhong,   Tony Mittertreiner, David Carty and Takamasa Momose
physics.chem-ph