Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 19: Ultracold Molecules and Precision Spectroscopy (joint session MO/Q)

Q 19.6: Talk

Tuesday, March 12, 2024, 12:15–12:30, HS 3044

Photodissociation spectrum of a single trapped CaOH+ — •Zhenlin Wu, Stefan Walser, Brandon Furey, Mariano Isaza-Monsalve, Elyas Mattivi, René Nardi, and Philipp Schindler — Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Molecular ions can be sympathetically cooled and crystallized in atomic ion crystals confined in radio-frequency traps, which are ideal for molecular spectroscopy on the single molecule scale. Their application in quantum technologies and the exploration of fundamental physics have also been proposed and demonstrated. Most experiments investigating the internal structure of trapped molecular ions rely on dissociation-based state detection methods and quantum logic spectroscopy via co-trapped atomic qubit ions. In our setup, we aim to study triatomic CaOH+ molecular ions generated in trapped Ca+ ion experiments in the presence of water vapor. As the first step towards quantum logic spectroscopy of a single trapped polyatomic ion, we investigate the single-photon and two-photon photodissociation process of CaOH+ which excites the molecule to its unbound first electronic excited state. We report the photodissociation cross section spectrum of CaOH+ obtained from measurement of a single CaOH+ located in an ion chain. This result can be the basis of dissociation-based spectroscopy for studying the rovibrational structure of CaOH+. In addition, the reported spectrum can be useful in large-scale trapped Ca+ quantum experiments for recycling Ca+ ions when they form undesired CaOH+ ions via background gas collisions.

Keywords: trapped molecular ion; ion trap; photodissociation