  Recently, a decelerator for neutral polar molecules has been presented that
operates on the basis of macroscopic, three-dimensional, traveling
electrostatic traps (Osterwalder et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 051401 (2010)). In
the present paper, a complete description of this decelerator is given, with
emphasis on the electronics and the mechanical design. Experimental results
showing the transverse velocity distributions of guided molecules are shown and
compared to trajectory simulations. An assessment of non-adiabatic losses is
made by comparing the deceleration signals from 13-CO with those from 12-CO and
with simulated signals.
