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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 16: Cold Molecules II
MO 16.5: Vortrag
Mittwoch, 20. März 2013, 12:00–12:15, F 107
Lifetime measurement of the first vibrationally excited state in the MgH+ ion — •Oscar O. Versolato1, Maria Schwarz1, Alexander Windberger1, Joachim Ullrich1,2, José R. Crespo López-Urrutia1, Lukasz Klosowksi3, Anders K. Hansen3, Alexander D. Gingell3, and Michael Drewsen3 — 1Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany — 2Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany — 3Ion Trap Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Molecules at rest in space with fully controlled internal states are of great interest for physics as well as astrophysics and physical chemistry. Significant progress towards this end has been achieved recently in a room-temperature trap by means of a laser excitation scheme of a single rovibrational transition in vibrationally and translationally cold MgH+ ions. Blackbody radiation induced rotational dynamics, which limit this cooling scheme, are slowed down significantly in our new 4K cryogenic trap (CryPTEx), as successfully demonstrated in experiments carried out at AU. These improved experimental conditions enabled the measurement of the lifetime of the first vibrationally excited state in MgH+ by means of laser excitation to this state, followed by resonance enhanced two-photon dissociation of the ions that were trapped in a Coulomb crystal. The method presented here can readily be extended to other molecules of particular astrophysical relevance such as CH+, OH+, and NH+, enabling the determination of decay rates at percent level accuracy.