Talk:Electrostatic deflection (molecular physics/nanotechnology)

This page really is missing significant details on "electrostatic deflection" in molecular physics. This goes back to the days of Otto Stern, who won a note prize for related work;-) Originally, in 1921, Kallmann & Reiche described the deflection of molecules when passed through inhomogeneous electric fields. Otto Stern quickly followed up, initially with the magnetic equivalent, but later his PhD student Erwin Wrede was the first to demonstrate the electrostatic deflection in order to measure the dipole moment of a molecule – in 1926. Lot's of work has been done then, until the latest experiments, e.g., in my group, which utilized "electrostatic deflection" to separate quantum states and molecular species, conformers, nuclear-spin isomers, etc. – see our Perspective in International Reviews of Physical Chemistry (2015), which I can provide upon request.

Electrostatic deflection is, furthermore, heavily used in particle accelerators, mass spectometers, etc.