Sympathetic cooling of rovibrationally state-selected molecular ions

We present a new method for the generation of rotationally and vibrationally state-selected, translationally cold molecular ions in ion traps. Our technique is based on the state-selective threshold photoionization of neutral molecules followed by sympathetic cooling of the resulting ions with laser...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2010-06
Main Authors: Tong, Xin, Winney, Alexander H, Willitsch, Stefan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calcium ions
Cooling
Ion traps (instrumentation)
Laser cooling
Molecular ions
Photoionization
Qubits (quantum computing)
Selectivity
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Summary:We present a new method for the generation of rotationally and vibrationally state-selected, translationally cold molecular ions in ion traps. Our technique is based on the state-selective threshold photoionization of neutral molecules followed by sympathetic cooling of the resulting ions with laser-cooled calcium ions. Using N\(_2^+\) ions as a test system, we achieve > 90 % selectivity in the preparation of the ground rovibrational level and state lifetimes on the order of 15 minutes limited by collisions with background-gas molecules. The technique can be employed to produce a wide range of apolar and polar molecular ions in the ground and excited rovibrational states. Our approach opens up new perspectives for cold quantum-controlled ion-molecule-collision studies, frequency-metrology experiments with state-selected molecular ions and molecular-ion qubits.
ISSN:2331-8422