Trapping molecular ions that have been sympathetically cooled with laser-cooled atomic ions is a useful platform for exploring cold ion chemistry. We designed and characterized a new experimental apparatus for probing chemical reaction dynamics between molecular cations and neutral radicals at temperatures below 1 K. The ions are trapped in a linear quadrupole radio-frequency trap and sympathetically cooled by co-trapped, laser-cooled, atomic ions. The ion trap is coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer to readily identify product ion species and to accurately determine trapped ion numbers. We discuss, and present in detail, the design of this ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer and the electronics required for driving the trap and mass spectrometer. Furthermore, we measure the performance of this system, which yields mass resolutions of m/Δm ≥ 1100 over a wide mass range, and discuss its relevance for future measurements in chemical reaction kinetics and dynamics.
A promising new approach for studying cold ion-molecule chemical reactions is the combination of laser- or sympathetically-cooled trapped ions and slow-moving molecules from a cold molecule source, such as a quadrupole velocity selector or a Stark decelerator. Previous reaction studies using trapped atomic ions and slow molecules from a quadrupole velocity selector were able to reach average collision energies as low as 1 K. However, the guided molecules had an approximately room temperature rotational energy distribution, so the reactions studied were not truly cold. Thus, a new molecular source for producing translationally and rotationally cold molecules utilizing buffer gas cooling and quadrupole velocity selection was constructed by K. Twyman and characterized for use in cold reaction studies. This new source of cold molecules is referred to as the buffer gas guide. A new ion trap has been designed and built for use with the existing buffer gas guide. The new ion trap apparatus is compact and mechanically compatible with this new guide. It uses a linear Paul ion trap with cylindrical electrodes to trap ions. Two optical axes (one axial and one radial) enable efficient cooling of small ion crystals. A field-free time-of-flight tube and ion detection assembly are also incorporated into the apparatus. A new technique for determining the mass and quantity of trapped ions has also been developed, termed digital ion trap mass spectrometry. The new technique uses a digital RF waveform to trap ions before ejecting the ions radially from the trap using an ejection pulse applied to the trap electrodes. The ions are then detected after free flight along a time-of-flight tube. This technique was characterized by ejecting crystals of various sizes and compositions: Ca+ only, Ca+/CaF +, Ca+/CaOH +/CaOD+, and Ca+/NH +3 /NH +4 /H3O+. A linear relationship between the number of ions ejected (determined by comparing experimental and simulated crystal images) and the integral of the time-of-flight peak was observed for Ca+ and Ca+/CaF +. All mass peaks were resolved. Simulations of the trapped ions and their trajectories through the time-of-flight tube were also performed, and excellent agreement between the simulated and experimental mass resolution was observed. Progress towards combining the buffer gas guide with the previously independent ion trap is also presented. It is anticipated that the combined buffer gas guide ion trap apparatus will enable the study of ion-molecule reactions at low temperatures with translationally and rotationally cold molecules. It is anticipated that the new digital ion trap mass spectrometry technique will simplify the study of reactions when multiple product ions whose masses are separated by only 1 AMU are formed. A new ion trap has been designed and built for use with the existing buffer gas guide. The new ion trap apparatus is compact and mechanically compatible with this new guide. It uses a linear Paul ion trap with cylindrical electrodes to trap ions. Two optical axes (one axial and one radial) enable efficient cooling of small ion crystals. A field-free time-of-flight tube and ion detection assembly are also incorporated into the apparatus. A new technique for determining the mass and quantity of trapped ions has also been developed, termed digital ion trap mass spectrometry. The new technique uses a digital RF waveform to trap ions before ejecting the ions radially from the trap using an ejection pulse applied to the trap electrodes. The ions are then detected after free flight along a time-of-flight tube. This technique was characterized by ejecting crystals of various sizes and compositions: Ca+ only, Ca+/CaF+, Ca+/CaOH+/CaOD+, and Ca+/NH+3/NH+4/H3O+. A linear relationship between the number of ions ejected (determined by comparing experimental and simulated crystal images) and the integral of the time-of-flight peak was observed for Ca+ and Ca+/CaF+. All mass peaks were resolved. Simulations of the trapped ions and their trajectories through the time-of-flight tube were also performed, and excellent agreement between the simulated and experimental mass resolution was observed. Progress towards combining the buffer gas guide with the previously independent ion trap is also presented. It is anticipated that the combined buffer gas guide ion trap apparatus will enable the study of ion-molecule reactions at low temperatures with translationally and rotationally cold molecules. It is anticipated that the new digital ion trap mass spectrometry technique will simplify the study of reactions when multiple product ions whose masses are separated by only 1 AMU are formed.
We describe a versatile experimental apparatus designed for investigating ion-molecule reaction dynamics at low temperatures under ultra-high vacuum conditions (<8 × 10-11 Torr). The system integrates laser-cooled atomic ions confined in a linear Paul trap with a pulsed molecular beam featuring simultaneous quantum-state and velocity selection. Reaction products are identified using fluorescence imaging and a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The setup accommodates a broad range of ionic and neutral species-including Be+, C+, H2, N2, O2, H2O, and others-enabling high-sensitivity studies of reaction dynamics. As a benchmark, we present measurements of the Be+ + H2 reaction across a range of collision energies, including reactions with H2 vibrationally excited to the v = 1 level. The apparatus offers fine control over both internal and external degrees of freedom, providing a general platform for cold ion-molecule reaction studies.
This Dissertation details the development of state-of-the-art hybrid atom-ion trapping architecture and technique towards increasing the quantum control of matter and the detection of chemical processes at cold temperatures. Experimental work discussed herein is performed primarily using the second-generation of the MOTion trap, a hybrid atom-ion trap consisting of a co-located magneto-optical trap (MOT) and a linear quadrupole trap (LQT), with which
40Ca and a variety of atomic and molecular ions (Yb
+, Ba
+, BaCl
+, and others) can be co-trapped and cooled. Such a device enables the immersion of laser-cooled, ionic Coulomb crystals in diffuse gases of laser-cooled, highly-polarizable neutral atoms, allowing for studies in sympathetic cooling, cold atom-ion chemistry, and nonequilbrium collisional dynamics.In the first of these studies, I discuss our method of sympathetic cooling in which we use a laser-cooled gas of Ca atoms to sympathetically cool BaCl
+ ions confined in the LQT. Because of the large polarizability of Ca, this method is found to be extremely efficient at cooling the notoriously difficult vibrational degree of freedom. This technique opens the door to research with general, ultracold, highly-localized molecular ions in the quantum ground-state which are not able to be produced using the more traditional methods of Doppler-cooling or photoassociation.In the study of cold chemistry in the hybrid trap, I characterize a fundamental reaction, known as charge exchange, at the single-particle level in which an electron is transferred from a neutral atom to an atomic ion during an inelastic collision. This low-temperature process is thought to be foundational to the chemistry leading to the formation of stars, planets and interstellar clouds in our universe. Herein I discuss how improved experimental architecture has enabled the determination of reaction rate constants for individual electronic states of the reactants.Our theoretical study of the collisional processes in hybrid atom-ion traps has led to the discovery of surprising nonequilibrium physics which exists in the hybrid trap environment. Herein I outline the collisional dynamics between neutral atoms and atomic ions in the presence of a time-dependent confining potential and describe how these dynamics manifest themselves in the emergence of nonequilbrium phenomena as indicated by bifurcations in steady-state energies of trapped ions. I show how the these dynamics can potentially limit the efficiency and overall viability of using neutral buffer gases to sympathetically cool the translational motion of trapped ions to ultracold temperatures.In addition to these experimental studies, the development of architecture is discussed with focus given to the implementation of a novel time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) for use with hybrid atom-ion traps as well as standard LQTs. This simple, modular device couples radially with the LQT and enables the straightforward mass analysis of trapped species without complications derived from typical experimental difficulties, engineering constraints, and financial concerns. With this robust device we precisely characterize chemical processes which can take place in these hybrid atom-ion traps. Additionally, I describe how this new architecture is used to perform the action spectroscopy of several previously unstudied molecular ions in order to further establish the field of cold molecular ion research and the widespread use of hybrid atom-ion traps.
This thesis describes the development and demonstration of techniques for the study of ion-neutral reactive collisions at low temperatures conducted using two unique experimental apparatuses comprising radio-frequency Paul traps. One apparatus combines a Stark decelerator with a Paul trap; the other apparatus features a buffer gas cell interfaced with a Paul trap through an electrostatic quadrupole guide. A novel ion trap time-of-flight mass spectrometer has been introduced and characterised. This apparatus is designed to detect the ion products of reactive collisions at low temperatures (< 10 K). This detection approach affords excellent detection efficiency and is broadly applicable to all ion-molecule reactions that one could study within a linear Paul ion trap. A proof-of-principle reaction between xenon ions and neutral ammonia isotopologues is examined to test the performance of the new detection set-up. With the goal of achieving full control over the reaction parameters, the amount of alignment retained by rotationally and translationally cold ammonia molecules exiting the electrostatic guide has been examined using (2 + 1) REMPI detection of the molecules with varying linear polarisation. Simulations suggests how modifications to the current setup will enable full orientation of the cooled molecules reaching the detection region to be achieved. Experiments on cold charge exchange reactions between sympathetically-cooled Xe+ and room temperature ammonia (NH3 and ND3) have been conducted within lasercooled Ca+ Coulomb crystals in a linear Paul ion trap. There is ongoing work to ascertain any difference in reactivity between NH3 and ND3 as the neutral reactant species. Preliminary data are discussed at a qualitative level, with the prospect of observing any isotope effect in this charge transfer process. Charge exchange reaction experiments using cold state-selected ammonia are discussed with the goal of establishing reaction rate constants at different collision energies.
A range of experimental techniques for application in reaction studies between ionic and neutral atoms/molecules and high resolution spectroscopy experiments with sympathetically cooled molecular ions are presented. A novel ion trap loading scheme using the photo-ionisation of atoms generated by the pulsed laser ablation of a solid calcium target has been characterised. We have identified the range of ablation laser fluences that must be used in order to produce a flux of neutral calcium atoms, which is a prerequisite for isotope selective ion trap loading. Calcium ions are trapped and laser cooled in a linear radio-frequency ion trap. We have developed a spectroscopy scheme that allows the entire fluorescence spectrum of trapped ions to be rapidly collected with high precision while maintaining a low ion temperature and good ion localisation throughout interrogation. The scheme has been demonstrated by measuring the saturation intensity of the calcium ion 4S1/2?4P1/2 transition. We have developed a novel scheme to measure the secular motion of trapped ions and demonstrated the application of the technique to ion-neutral collision reaction experiments. Employing pulsed excitation and Doppler velocimetry, we have measured the centre-of-mass mode frequency of single ions as well as large ion crystals with a frequency precision better than 2x10-3 within an interrogation time on the order of seconds. This method has been used to measure the mass of ions and observe charge exchange collisions between trapped calcium isotopes. In particular, we have measured the 44Ca++40Ca!40Ca++44Ca reaction cross section and demonstrated the single-event resolution of the technique. Finally, we have developed a novel all-optical broadband scheme for exciting, amplifying and measuring the secular motion of ions in the trap. Oscillation induced by optical excitation has been coherently amplified to control and measure the ion's secular motion. Requiring only a single interrogation laser, the ion's oscillation amplitude can be precisely controlled. The application of this technique to non-destructive spectroscopy of trapped molecular ions is discussed.
In this article, we describe the design, construction, and implementation of our ion-atom hybrid system incorporating a high resolution time of flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS). Potassium atoms (39K) in a magneto optical trap and laser cooled calcium ions (40Ca+) in a linear Paul trap are spatially overlapped, and the combined trap is integrated with a TOFMS for radial extraction and detection of reaction products. We also present some experimental results showing interactions between 39K+ and 39K, 40Ca+ and 39K+, as well as 40Ca+ and 39K pairs. Finally, we discuss prospects for cooling CaH+ molecular ions in the hybrid ion-atom system.