  Nitric oxide (NO) molecules initially traveling at 795 m/s in pulsed
supersonic beams have been photoexcited to long-lived hydrogenic Rydberg-Stark
states, decelerated and electrostatically trapped in a cryogenically cooled,
chip-based transmission-line Rydberg-Stark decelerator. The decelerated and
trapped molecules were detected $in$ $situ$ by pulsed electric field
ionization. The operation of the decelerator was validated by comparison of the
experimental data with the results of numerical calculations of particle
trajectories. Studies of the decay of the trapped molecules on timescales up to
1 ms provide new insights into the lifetimes of, and effects of blackbody
radiation on, Rydberg states of NO.
