Related papers: Cold molecular ions via autoionization below the d…
The translational motion of molecular ions can be effectively cooled sympathetically to temperatures below 100 mK in ion traps through Coulomb interactions with laser-cooled atomic ions. The distribution of internal rovibrational states,…
Studying chemical reactions at very low temperatures is of importance for the understanding of fundamental physical and chemical processes. At very low energies, collisions are dominated by only a few partial waves. Thus, studies in this…
Carbon monoxide molecules in their electronic, vibrational, and rotational ground state are highly attractive for trapping experiments. The optical or ac electric traps that can be envisioned for these molecules will be very shallow,…
We discuss theoretically ion-atom collisions at low energy and predict the possibility of formation of cold molecular ion by photoassociation. We present results on radiative homo- and hetero-nuclear atom-ion cold collisions that reveal…
We show that ionization and dissociation can be influenced separately in a molecule with appropriate external noise. Specifically we investigate the hydrogen molecular ion under a stochastic force quantum mechanically beyond the…
Radiative emission during cold collisions between trapped laser-cooled Rb atoms and alkaline-earth ions (Ca$^+$, Sr$^+$, Ba$^+$) and Yb$^+$, and between Li and Yb$^+$, are studied theoretically, using accurate effective-core-potential based…
Photoionization by high-energy photons creates nonthermal electrons with a broad range of energies that heat and chemically transform the atmospheres of planets. The specifics of the interactions are notably different when the gas is atomic…
Usually microscopic electrostatic field around ions is neglected when the ionization energy is concerned. The ionization energy is considered to be equal to that of a separate atom (molecule). Here the energy of the electrostatic field…
A novel type of particle "cooling", called Ionization Cooling, is applicable to slow (v of the order of 0.1c) ions stored in a small ring. The many traversals through a thin foil enhance the nuclear reaction probability, in a steady…
We demonstrate rotational excitation of molecular ions that are sympathetically cooled by laser-cooled atomic ions to a temperature as low as ca. 10 mK. The molecular hydrogen ions HD+ and the fundamental rotational transition $(v=0,\,…
We produce large numbers of low-energy ions by photoionization of laser-cooled atoms inside a surface-electrode-based Paul trap. The isotope-selective trap loading rate of $4\times10^{5}$ Yb$^{+}$ ions/s exceeds that attained by…
An additional channel opens for photoionization of atom $A$ by an electromagnetic field if it traverses a gas of atoms $B$ resonantly coupled to this field. We show that this channel, in which $A$ is ionized via resonant photoexcitation of…
We present a study on ion-atom-atom reaction A+A+B$^+$ in a wide range of systems and collision energies ranging from 100$~\mu$K to 10$^5~$K, analyzing the two possible products: molecules and molecular ions. The dynamics is performed via a…
We propose a new method for the production of ultracold molecular ions. This method utilizes sympathetic cooling due to the strong collisions between appropriately chosen molecular ions and laser-cooled neutral atoms to realize ultracold,…
We report an upper bound to the ionization energy of 85Rb2 of 31348.0(6) cm-1, which also provides a lower bound to the dissociation energy D0 of 85Rb2+ of 6307.5(6) cm-1. These bounds were measured by the onset of autoionization of excited…
The formation of $^{40}$Ca$_2^+$ molecular ions is observed in a hybrid $^{40}$Ca magneto-optical and ion trap system. The molecular ion formation process is determined to be two-photon photo-associative ionization of ultracold $^{40}$Ca…
The direct laser cooling of neutral diatomic molecules in molecular beams suggests that trapped molecular ions can also be laser cooled. The long storage time and spatial localization of trapped molecular ions provides the opportunity for…
The translational motion of molecular ions can be effectively cooled sympathetically to translational temperatures below 100 mK in ion traps through Coulomb interactions with laser-cooled atomic ions. The ro-vibrational degrees of freedom,…
We report a combined experimental and theoretical study on the formation of O2+ by electronimpact double ionization and fragmentation of carbon dioxide (CO2) molecule. Through fragment ions and electron coincidence momentum imaging, we…
Molecular predissociation is the spontaneous, nonradiative bond breaking process that can occur upon excitation. In the context of laser cooling, predissociation is an unwanted consequence of molecular structure that limits the ability to…