Abstract
Photodetachment thermometry on a beam of in a cryogenic storage ring cooled to below 10 K is carried out using two-dimensional frequency- and time-dependent photodetachment spectroscopy over 20 min of ion storage. In equilibrium with the low-level blackbody field, we find an effective radiative temperature near 15 K with about 90% of all ions in the rotational ground state. We measure the natural lifetime (about 193 s) and determine the rotational transition dipole moment with 1.5% uncertainty. We also measure rotationally dependent relative near-threshold photodetachment cross sections for photodetachment thermometry.
- Received 20 April 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.023202
© 2017 American Physical Society
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Focus
The Coolest Molecular Ion Beams
Published 14 August 2017
Two research teams have created the coldest molecular ion beams ever, putting molecules in their ground states of rotation and providing improved experimental stand-ins for interstellar gas clouds.
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