English

Photodetachment of cold OH- in a multipole ion trap

Atomic Physics 2009-11-13 v2

Abstract

The absolute photodetachment cross section of OH- anions at a rotational and translational temperature of 170K is determined by measuring the detachment-induced decay rate of the anions in a multipole radio-frequency ion trap. In comparison with previous results, the obtained cross section shows the importance of the initial rotational state distribution. Using a tomography scan of the photodetachment laser through the trapped ion cloud, the derived cross section is model-independent and thus features a small systematic uncertainty. The tomography also yields the column density of the OH- anions in the 22-pole ion trap in good agreement with the expected trapping potential of a large field free region bound by steep potential walls.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0607248,
  title  = {Photodetachment of cold OH- in a multipole ion trap},
  author = {S. Trippel and J. Mikosch and R. Berhane and R. Otto and M. Weidemüller and R. Wester},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0607248},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Phys. Rev. Lett., in press